


Aqours☆HEROES

by AleneShazam



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Aqours are students, Fights n shit, Gen, It's Hero School!, Kind-of Boku no Hero Academia crossover, There's romance but it'll be either sideline or implied, Violence, a story for MEN, everyone is gay(?), except it's all girls, hotblooded action!, it's a shonen story!, the Boku No Hero AU no one ever asked for, µ's are either pro-heroes or support staff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2018-12-21 15:50:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11947515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AleneShazam/pseuds/AleneShazam
Summary: Ever since the emergence of superpowers - "Quirks", the world has never been quite the same. Villains emerged, who exploit their Quirks for evil, and-- Heroes, who use their Quirks for good.Chika is Quirkless, but after a run-in with an illegal drug organization, she finds herself developing powers she'd never imagined she could wield. Along with her friends, she now trains to master her Quirk so someday she may become a hero and protect the world from evil.((Boku no Hero Academia AU - but really Quirks are the only things I borrowed, no knowledge of Boku no Hero characters or plot is necessary))((Alt title: Gay girls fight crime with superpowers, saves day))





	1. Well, technically Chapter 0 - The Origin Story

**Author's Note:**

> Follow my tumblr for updates, art, requests, and more! (<https://worldofoasis.tumblr.com/>)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little experiment. After writing ship-fics for so long I decided to clear my palette by including a straightforward (?) superhero AU story. A lot of the concepts are borrowed from Boku no Hero Academia, but knowledge of the series is not necessary.
> 
> Side note, the story begins while Yo and Chika are still in their second year of middle school - three years before their current age.

Heroes are born. Not made.

This is a fact Chika is well aware of. She was well aware of it since that day in the clinic, when she was on her mother’s lap clutching a Kousaka Honoka ‘Miss Miracle’ action figure, and she heard the doctor deliver the news with a grave expression and a sombre tone, like someone had just died:

—“Your daughter is Quirkless”—

Something did die that day. Chika’s dreams of heroics and adventures stopped after that, no matter how hard her sisters or Yo or Kanan tried to comfort her and reassure her that she could still be a hero. But they all had Quirks… and Chika didn’t. That was cold, hard, immutable fact.

Quirks are the foundation of modern society. They are the basis for jobs, are the subject of numerous policies and legislations, and even form the backbone of criminal activity and the repulsion thereof. As someone without a Quirk - someone subject to that terrible 20% Quirkless ratio - Chika is doomed to be an outcast. Someone to be pitied, someone with a disability.

At least - She thought that was the case.

And yet, here she is, lying on a hospital bed after spending god-knows how long unconscious, with _Kousaka Honoka herself_ standing in front of her. The heroine sighs, scratching her own cheek uncomfortably. She shifts her posture a little, before finally saying:

“Listen, kid. This is going to sound crazy, but… you’ve developed a Quirk.” Honoka looks away. “…I’m sorry.”

“What…” Chika’s eyes grow wide, and she feels the world fall away in the wake of the revelation.

* * *

  _One month ago—_

“Yo-chan, come on! We’ve gotta hurry if we want to make it ahead of the crowd!”

Chika’s voice rings out through the empty hallway as she runs past, dragging Yo along by the wrist.

“The Hero exhibit is the main attraction of the Quirk museum, but everyone’s getting caught up in following the proper viewing order - from the History of Quirks exhibit. Obviously, what we should do is skip everything and go straight to the Hero exhibit! That’s the optimal strategy, yeah!”

Yo sighs, exasperated. “That’s just an excuse for you to geek about heroes, though…”

“Geek is justice! Pro-heroes are absolute! Now come, young padawan— we’re almost there!”

Ignoring Yo’s mumbled protests, Chika grins and picks up her speed, sprinting down the corridor to the doorway leading into the Hero exhibit.

Yo sighs again, and with a tired smile she obliges Chika, picking up her pace to follow behind her.

After all, it’s Chika’s big day. A pro-hero geek like Chika, getting to visit the Akihabara Quirk Museum, it’s like a dream come true to Chika. Especially coming from a out-of-the-way town like Uchiura, where nothing exciting ever happens. Even though it’s supposed to be a learning experience for those pro-hero hopefuls - like Yo - Chika’s probably been looking forward to it more than anyone else.

Bursting into the Hero exhibit, Chika’s excited chatter is silenced for a moment.

Heroes. Wall to wall displays, pictures, news snippets, life-sized models and mannequins. All recording information of the pro-heroes that defend the public order everyday. There are miniature reconstructions of large-scale events, documenting the various calamities that have befallen mankind, as well as the heroes who averted these crises. There are life-sized models of heroes past and present, striking their signature poses or locked in eternal combat with their most prominent enemies, with information displays describing their accomplishments and other details.

And of course, at the centre of the exhibit, a marble statue of the ‘Number 1 hero’ - Kousaka Honoka, otherwise known by her alias, Miss Miracle. Chika’s idol. Yo isn’t as huge into heroes as Chika is, but even she is struck dumb for a moment, staring at this record of humanity’s heroes.

“…Wow.” Chika breathes, taking a few steps forward. She looks around, her eyes practically glowing with excitement. She homes in on the display of a white-clad heroine, looking up at the mannequin of the costume. “The White Guardian, active for six years, recently retired. Her Quirk of precognition allowed her to react and counterattack almost any attack, and she single handedly dismantled a regional criminal organization.”

She tears her gaze away from the display, glancing around in a daze, as though momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the exhibit.

“Bishop,” She indicates to a male mannequin draped in red robes. “One of the few religious heroes, his Quirk allowed him to force villains to confess to their crimes. He worked in tandem with the police, and could quickly gauge the required sentence for each criminal he captures.”

Finally, with a giddy smile, she heads towards the centre of the exhibit, dragging Yo along with her.

“But of course, you can’t talk about heroes without mentioning the #1 and #2 heroes…” She points towards a picture of two heroes. One is Kousaka Honoka, Miss Miracle, in her orange-and-white bodysuit and cape. The other is a shorter woman wearing a tight-fitting jumpsuit, with mechanical turbine-looking attachments at her wrists and ankles. She’s hovering in mid-air while Honoka is mid-leap between two buildings.

“Kousaka Honoka, and Kira Tsubasa. Miss Miracle and A-RISE. The best of the best, stationed right here in Akihabara…!” Chika’s eyes gleam with admiration. “Miss Miracle is the strongest, of course, with her invincible Quirk - but A-RISE is no slouch, with her ability to manipulate air currents and atmospheric pressures. She can even change the weather if she so wished— a powerful Quirk fitting of Miss Miracle’s top rival! Ah, so cool~! I wish I had a Quirk like them…”

Yo smiles, but she can’t help but feel a pang of helplessness looking at Chika. She knows Chika wants a quirk, and to be a hero, above anything else. Yet, she was born Quirkless. If Yo could, she would give Chika her own Quirk… but that’s not possible. Besides, Chika’s already accepted that she can’t be a hero. Yo isn’t going to invalidate her determination.

Yo puts a hand on Chika’s shoulder. “I’m sure if you had a Quirk, Chika-chan, you’d be the best hero ever. You know so much about Quirks, after all - you barely even need to pay attention in the Quirk classes. You know the syllabus by heart already.”

“Yo-chan’s Quirk is strong too, you know?” Chika turns and pokes Yo’s cheek. “Generating high-pressure water jets from your hands - it’s really flashy and versatile. If you decided to be a hero, you’d be a really good one!”

“Well, maybe…” Yo mumbles. It’s not the first time Chika suggested that Yo become a hero, but Yo is hesitant. For her to become a hero, when Chika can’t but so desperately wishes she can - it’s almost cruel. “I’m… um, I’m gonna go look at some of the water-based heroes. Meet you back here in a bit?”

“Sure!” Chika smiles, waving Yo goodbye as she retreats to the section detailing the heroes with water-centric Quirks. As Yo pulls out of view, Chika’s smile slips slightly, and she looks up at the statue of Kousaka Honoka with a forlorn expression on her face.

“Heroes are born… not made. In this world, that’s a fact…” Chika mutters. She clenches her fist. “I know that… but still… it’s so unfair…” She bites her lip, looking down. “I want a Quirk, too…”

_“…Are you sure no one’ll bust us?…”_

_“…Relax. No one’s going to expect us to deal in the Hero exhibit of the Quirk Museum itself…”_

_“…Ah, hiding in plain sight - I gotcha, I gotcha. Smart thinking…”_

_“…Thank you, but I’m not here for compliments…”_

Chika freezes, her brow furrowed at the voices. Two men, speaking in hushed tones. Her suspicion piqued, she tries to follow the voices to their source.

_“Do you have the payment?”_

_“Yeah. What about you? You brought the good stuff, right?”_

The voices seem to be coming from one of the alcoves in the exhibit, the ones where you can sit down to watch an informational documentary. Carefully making her way to the entrance of the alcove, Chika gulps and continues to listen.

_“Lab EVO always delivers the best quality products, sir. Now, please take a look at this…”_

There’s a click, like the sound of a lock being opened. One of the men whistles.

_“Damn. That’s the whole series, innit?”_

_“It’s what your boss paid for, is it not? The regular enhancement injections, Trigger, and… our newest product. The Gift.”_

_“The Gift. That’s the one that gives people new Quirks, right?”_

Chika’s eyes widen, and she lets out a squeak in surprise. She quickly covers her mouth, but the damage is done - there’s a rustle of clothes as the two men turn.

_“What was that?”_

_“Tch. I thought we wouldn’t be interrupted here… you - if you want this shipment, you’ll have to earn it. Make sure we’re not being watched.”_

_“Yeah yeah, whatever…”_

Chika swallows nervously, breaking out in cold sweat as she backs away slowly and quietly. She looks around - there’s no one to call for help from, and nowhere to hide that’s secure. Plus, Yo is still in the room, she could get hurt…

Her eyes fall on the fire alarm, just as a man comes out of the alcove. He’s wearing a black jacket, wearing shades, and has a shaved head.

“Hey, kid…” Chika flinches. “You heard us, didn’t ya?”

“Uh… no…?” Chika offers, smiling hopefully. The man grimaces, and in the split second it takes for him to activate his Quirk, Chika dives for cover, just as the man slams a gloved fist against the display board that Chika was hiding behind. The board shudders for a moment - then explodes, sending shrapnel flying everywhere.

Chika squeaks as she feels the shards of plastic thud into the display board she’s ducked behind, and swallows as she looks around for anything - anything at all that can help.

“What - what kind of Quirk is that?” Chika asks with a stammer, backing away frantically.

The man grins. “I can cause things to vibrate so hard that they blow up. It’s a pretty good one, as Quirks go…”

As though to demonstrate, he smashes through a display case and grabs a replica crown belonging to some hero or another. Gripping it tightly, the crown begins to vibrate violently, before once again exploding into a hail of shrapnel that Chika only barely avoids by once again, ducking behind a display board.

“Now, you gonna do this the easy way, or you gonna do this the _hard_ way?” The man snarls menacingly, advancing on Chika. Chika squeaks and scrabbles backwards, her eyes growing wide when she feels her back hit a wall. She’s trapped.

“Uh… uhm…” Chika’s mouth is dry. She looks around wildly, and- “Hey, look over there!”

She points, and miraculously, the thug glances in the direction she’s pointing for just a split second. But a split second is all Chika needs, as she picks up a piece of the debris created from the man’s Quirk, and throws it with all her might. It sails through the air, and smashes through the glass of the fire alarm, triggering the sprinklers and causing the exhibition speakers to start wailing with an obnoxious klaxon.

“Why you little…!” The man is furious, diving towards Chika with his hands outstretched. Chika rolls out of the way, but only just barely, the man’s attack missing by a hair’s breadth. His quirk activates, and the wall behind Chika crumbles under the vibrations.

Chika tries not to imagine that happening to herself as she scrambles away, the floor growing slick as water starts to rain down from above.

“I’m gonna kill you!” The man roars, lunging again. Chika jumps, just in time, and clears a fence and lands into a life-sized display of a robotic hero fighting a reptilian villain. The man shatters the statue of the villain, barely missing Chika again. “Stay still, you brat!”

“I don’t think so!” Chika squeaks, jumping again out of the display and making a run for it, with the man in close pursuit. With the alarms active, the security should be here any moment now, she just has to buy a little more time—!

Thinking furiously, Chika doesn’t notice the puddle in front of her. She steps into the water and slips, the world seeming to go into slow motion as she careens out of control into a miniature cityscape. The man roars, his feet pounding as he charges forward, hand outstretched to subject Chika to his quirk. Chika tries to move, but her body isn’t responding properly after the fall, the searing pain making it hard to even focus.

Is this it? Is this the end?

Chika stares up at the man as he reaches down. Maybe it’s the adrenaline running through her veins, but everything seems so slow - and yet, unavoidable.

Would she have fared better if she had a Quirk? Any Quirk at all, instead of being a useless Quirkless?

“You stay away from my friend!”

Before Chika can even process what happened, Yo has suddenly appeared, driving her knee into the man’s side and sending him sprawling. She turns in mid-air, forcing herself to a stop with jets of water issuing from her palms. “Chika-chan, are you okay?!” She asks frantically, crouching down beside her. “Oh God - you’re bleeding! Hold on, okay? Help should be here any moment now, just—!”

“Don’t underestimate me, you brats!”

Yo looks up, her honed reflexes allowing her to jet backwards just in time to avoid an entire display case being smashed down where she was crouched just a moment ago. She looks up, panicked, to find the man staggering to his feet, clutching his side.

“You caught me by surprise, but that’s where your luck ends. There’s no way two brats can take me on!”

The man growls, and is just about to lunge forward when suddenly, the ceiling of the exhibit explodes inwards. Yo quickly grabs Chika, and using a jet of water to propel them, ducks under a roofed display just in time to avoid the debris. The man, though, is not so lucky, and is engulfed in a cloud of concrete dust and warped steel.

“Have no fear, citizens!”

Chika’s eyes widen as she hears a female voice make the announcement. It’s not- It can’t be.

But it _is._

A woman in an orange and white bodysuit leaps down, executing a perfect hero landing as she lands amidst the rubble of the museum ceiling. Her orange hair seems to glow in the sunlight, and her blue eyes burn with confidence and passion. She straightens up, her cape billowing out behind her, and smiles dazzlingly.

“It’s a miracle…” Chika murmurs, her excitement bubbling up despite her injuries. “It’s a miracle!”

“It’s _Kousaka Honoka!_ ” Just as Chika cries out, the heroine turns and glances in the direction of the two girls.

“You two stay right there. I’ll protect you, okay?” She grins, and Chika feels her heart leap into her throat.

Then, the second surprise of the day.

“You say that, but you collapsed the ceiling and almost killed them.”

Kira Tsubasa - better known as the hero A-RISE - descends from above amidst her personal whirlwind. She’s dressed the same as in the picture, garbed in a white jumpsuit with turbines on the extremities of each limb.

She shakes her head disapprovingly. “You never learn, Miss Miracle.”

“Eh~ but it looked cool, didn’t it, Tsubasa-chan?” Honoka pouts, crossing her arms.

“That’s A-RISE to you. We’re not done yet.” Tsubasa says with a clipped tone, landing next to Honoka. “Confirm that there aren’t any more villains in the area— What?!”

She stops and leaps into the air, just as the ground suddenly explodes, debris flying everywhere and casting up a thick curtain of smoke that obscures visibility.

“Damn it! I’m not getting caught today!!”

The thug, Sazaki, leaps out from under the debris, placing both hands against the ground and producing another massive shockwave that knocks even Honoka back. “Pro-hero or not, I’m gonna crush you!”

He fumbles around his pocket, and through the dust cloud, Chika and Yo spot something vaguely syringe like. “For the boss!”

He stabs himself with the object, and immediately begins to laugh. “Yes…. Yes! This power - So much power!”

He stretches out his arms, and the _air itself_ begins to vibrate, sending out shockwaves that shake Yo and Chika to the bone. “This Trigger is good stuff! Now, come on, _heroes_. I’ll shake you to pieces!”

Tsubasa furrows her brow, holding up a hand. The air seems to coalesce around it, condensing into a whirling ball of turbulence. “I’ll try and break his concentration - Miss Miracle, you close the distance and go for the kill!”

“Roger that!” Honoka salutes, turning and cracking her knuckles as she faces Sazaki. The vibrations continue to push her back, but she doesn’t seem fazed, planting her feet into the ground and holding firm.

“Now… lets see how you deal with this!” Tsubasa hurls the ball of turbulence at Sazaki, the cannonball of condensed wind streaking through the air straight at the man. Sazaki snarls, and the vibrations intensify, meeting the ball of turbulence mid-flight.

There’s a thunderous crack as the orb destabilizes, and with an earsplitting bang, the orb explodes, sending everyone careening back - except for Honoka, who slams a foot down and springs forward, tackling Sazaki with blinding speed. In just a moment they have crossed the length of the room, and Honoka smashes Sazaki into the wall, cratering the concrete.

“Don’t move an inch, villain.” Honoka warns, pinning him against the wall. Sazaki only groans, completely winded and barely conscious after the furious assault. After a moment’s deliberation, she relaxes, allowing the man to slide to the floor. “Villain neutralized. That’s a wrap…?!” She turns around, and freezes in place.

Another man, this time in a lab coat, has Chika in a choke hold, a syringe held up against her neck.

“I wouldn’t be so rash, Miss Miracle.” He says dryly. Chika whimpers, feeling the needle poke the skin on her neck.

“Let the girl go, you bastard.” Tsubasa growls, wind starting to swirl around her arms.

“Ah, ah. That’s not how we talk to someone with a hostage, is it now?” The man clicks his tongue, tightening his hold on Chika’s neck.

Tsubasa bares her teeth, but allows the wind around her to dissipate. “What do you want?”

“I’m just going to walk free. Once I’m gone, the girl will be safely returned.” The man smiles amiably as he starts to back up towards the emergency exit. “So you two just stay right there and…?”

He looks down, confused. The arm that had Chika in a chokehold is now bent at an unnatural angle, flopping in the air. Honoka’s right in front of them, her eyes burning with fury.

“…Touche, Miss Miracle.” He mutters, and presses down on the syringe.

“You…!” Honoka grabs his other arm, but it’s too late - the syringe is emptied in an instant, and by the time she’s pulled the girl away to safety, the serum has already started to course through Chika’s system.

Everything after that is a blur.

Chika’s senses are dulled, and twisted. She can’t see, or feel anything. She can only vaguely hear. Sounds of battle, anguished crying.

Yo might have been shaking her, desperately calling her name. Chika can’t tell for sure.

_Ah… if only I had a Quirk, I would have been able to do something. Anything. Now, I’m just a burden, getting in the way._

As she drifts away into merciful nothingness, only one thought remains in her head.

_I don’t want to be like this… I want to become stronger…_

* * *

 It’s dark, and cold. Chika’s drifting, surfacing into indistinct light for a few moments before disappearing back under.

But then… heat.

Bubbling, boiling heat. It burns her, burns her limbs, burns her entire body. It’s like her very being has been set alight, her soul incinerated into ash. She tries to cry out for help, but there’s no one, only her, the darkness, and the burning, searing heat that eats away at her until there’s nothing left.

Nothing…

Nothing.

_“…”_

Nothing?

_“…We can’t let you in…”_

_“…But…”_

_“…Unique circumstances…”_

_“…Just one look?…”_

_“…Her current appearance…”_

_“…Come on, Yo, listen to the doctors…”_

Suddenly, sound. Chika can hear again. She struggles, the sense giving her hope. She fights to sense more, hear more, regain control of her other senses, to break free of the suffocating darkness…

Her eyes fly open.

She gasps, feeling cold crisp air flood her lungs. She can breathe. She can see! She tries to sit up, but a sharp pain in her back forces her back down.

“Woah there, kiddo. Don’t push yourself.”

That voice… Chika takes a sharp intake of breath. A face comes into view, a smiling face, with brilliant blue eyes and orange hair.

“Welcome back, Takami Chika-chan.” Honoka smiles toothily. She’s not wearing her costume - she’s just in normal civilian’s clothing.

“Guh, um, bwah?” Chika stammers eloquently. Honoka laughs, nodding her head. “Yup, yup. Give your body a moment to readjust to not being in a coma, first.”

“…Coma?” Chika tries again, slowly this time. Her parched throat manages to pronounce the word properly.

“Oh! Right, sorry - you must be thirsty. Here, drink.” Honoka holds a drinking tube up to Chika’s mouth. Biting on to it, Chika breathes out in relief as cool water soothes her mouth and throat.

“You’re probably confused. And scared. Your last memory was of a villain stabbing you, and now you wake up in an unfamiliar hospital room. Right?”

Chika nods slowly. Honoka sighs, breathing out slowly. “Okay. There are a lot of things I need to tell you, but first of all—…” The heroine sighs again, scratching her cheek uncomfortably. She shifts her posture a little, before finally saying:

“Listen, kid. This is going to sound crazy, but… you’ve developed a Quirk.” Honoka looks away. “…I’m sorry.”

“What…” Chika’s eyes grow wide, and she feels the world fall away in the wake of the revelation.

“I have a Quirk…?”

Honoka nods. “The villain that injected you… he’s part of an underground drug organization known as Lab EVO. They specialize in all sorts of Quirk enhancing drugs. Tsubasa-chan - ah, I mean A-RISE and I, have been trying to root them out for a while now.”

“He injected you with an experimental serum Lab EVO recently developed. It’s known as the Gift, and it causes rapid genetic mutations in its victims. The doctors can explain it better than I can, but… over the course of the past month, your body has been working overdrive to accommodate the genetic mutations you’ve developed. You survived, thankfully, but…”

She clicks her tongue. “Well… you’ve gotten yourself a new Quirk.”

“Really?!” Chika asks excitedly. “Do I have a Quirk now?!”

“You do, but… it’s not all fun and games.” Honoka sighs. “I wish this could be better for you. I’ve read your file, so I know that getting a Quirk must be great news, but… the truth is, it’s going to be a really hard time for you.”

Chika hesitates, putting her excitement aside for now. “…Why?”

“Your body is used to being Quirkless,” Honoka explains. “You may have the necessary biology - your Quirk factor - to use a Quirk, but the fact remains that you have the body of a Quirkless person. Suddenly gaining a Quirk… the strain on your body is unimaginable. If you were to recklessly use your Quirk… your body could break under the stress.”

“Break…” Chika feels a chill go down her spine.

“Plus, we don’t know what your Quirk actually is. So it could go off at any time, and do anything. We’ve already contacted the heroes in your hometown to keep an eye out when you’re discharged, and we’ll have a specialist be stationed in your hometown as well, to monitor your condition.”

Honoka sighs, putting a hand on Chika’s shoulder.

“You’re going to have to work ten times as hard as everyone else to make up for lost time. It’s going to be rough - that’s why I apologized. If I was more careful and realized the villain had a Quirk that dulled pain, I wouldn’t have tried what I tried…”

“It’s okay, Miss Miracle.”

Honoka blinks. Chika sits a little straighter, trying her best to sound confident. “I’ve… I’ve always wanted a Quirk. All my life, I’ve wanted to be a hero - a hero like you. So… this is perfect. Even if it’s gonna be difficult, even if I don’t know what’s gonna happen…”

She smiles at Honoka. “I’ll try my best to master my Quirk. Then I’ll be a hero. Just like you!”

Honoka stares at Chika for a long while. Then she smiles, and gives Chika a pat on the head.

“Atta girl. I’ll be at the top — don’t keep me waiting for too long.”

Honoka stands, brushing herself off and giving Chika a final, dazzling smile. “But, your friend’s been waiting for a month now, so…”

The door to the hospital room opens, and Yo rushes in, teary eyed and close to bawling.

“Chika-chan! You’re safe!”

“Yo-chan— omph!” Chika grunts as Yo gives her a bone-crushing hug. “I’m okay, I’m okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I missed you…” Yo mumbles. “I thought you were gonna die for a while, I was so scared…”

Chika sighs, and smiles comfortingly. “I’m sorry, Yo-chan…”

Watching the two of them, Honoka nods to herself, before leaving the room quietly, leaving them alone.

The Gift has a 80% catastrophic failure rate. Chika surpassed those odds and survived— Honoka chuckles to herself. She sees a familiar reflection in Chika. A girl who surpasses all odds and perseveres…

Maybe she can reach the top, after all. Honoka grins.

“You’re in a good mood.”

Tsubasa’s waiting for her outside the hospital room. As the two heroes responsible for Chika’s current state, Tsubasa felt compelled to be there too.

Honoka smiles playfully at her. “I’m always in a good mood when Tsubasa-chan is around.”

“Ggh…” Tsubasa blushes faintly. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I’m just glad the kid turned out okay,” Honoka says, sidling up to walk next to Tsubasa. “It’s kind of my fault she got injected with the Gift, after all.”

“Fortunately her family doesn’t want to press charges…” Tsubasa says, punching Honoka in the shoulder. “You got careless, Honoka.”

“I apologized already, didn’t I?” Honoka pouts, before her expression grows serious. “But… for the Gift to be sold to a common villain…”

“Lab EVO’s making their move.” Tsubasa says, looking ahead. “That man…”

Honoka nods.

“ _Kurome Shikaku…_ He’s finally made his decision.”

“We should too, then.” Tsubasa takes her phone out, dialling in a number. “Thanks to that lab rat, we have plenty of information on their organization…”

The call connects.

“Erena? It’s Tsubasa. Yes - it’s time. Get the team together…”

“We’re taking the fight to the enemy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the end I'll try and include these dossiers for major characters - they're basically my notes on each character's Quirk abilities.
> 
> Kousaka Honoka AKA Miss Miracle  
> Quirk: Determination  
> Honoka’s Quirk allows her to gain strength according to her desire to protect. Depending on how many people she’s trying to protect, or how deeply she cares for those she’s trying to protect, Honoka can become monstrously strong, dwarfing any other Quirk in raw destructive (or rather protective) power. 
> 
> It’s a quirk that’s only powerful if the wielder is a true hero, and because Honoka is determined to protect anyone and everyone, she’s always operating on 101% power!
> 
> Kira Tsubasa AKA A-RISE  
> Quirk: Turbulance  
> Her Quirk grants her the ability to control air currents in her vicinity. She has extremely fine control, and can also manipulate air pressure. She can use this to boost her physical abilities, fly, make ranged attacks, change the weather and even refract incoming attacks.
> 
> It’s not as romantic or inspiring as Honoka’s, but Tsubasa puts her Quirk to good use, winning the title of #2 hero.


	2. End of an Era (Summer's over ;w;)

_3 Years Later—_

“Chika-chan…”

Chika groans, her face buried in a pillow. Her bed is soft, and under the sheets she’s nice and warm and comfortable.

“Chika-chan…”

It’s the last days of summer. The laziest days of the year. The sun is shining, the breeze is cool, and the air smells of sweet mikan and salt. Dappled sunlight filters through the curtains, shining into Chika’s room and onto her bed. It’s a drowsy atmosphere, and Chika doesn’t want to wake up, ever.

Plus, having a pretty girl sit on top of you and call your name in an attempt to wake you up is… pretty sweet.

“Yo-chan…”

“Hmm?”

“It’s customary to wake the princess with a kiss… right?”

“…”

-SPLASH-

“WAH!”

Chika tumbles out of bed, soaked from head to toe by Yo’s Fountain quirk. She lands on her butt, and glares up at Yo, who’s still perching on the edge of the bed. “Wake up, you cabbage.” Yo grins, shooting off a thin jet that dribbles over Chika’s forehead.

“Jeez… Yo-chan has no sense of romance whatsoever. The prince in shining armour has to wake up the princess with a kiss! That’s the law! An unbroken tradition!”

-SPLOOSH-

Chika shakes her head, shaking off some of the droplets of water from the tips of her hair. She pouts, glaring at Yo.

“Well, you woke up, didn’t you?” Yo smirks, hopping off the bed and holding out a hand for Chika to grab on. “Come on, you’re gonna be late for your appointment. Your mom told me to wake you up. The lady’s gonna be mad if you’re late again.”

“Huh?” Chika looks up, and glances to the clock on the bedside table. 11:30. Her eyes widen, and she bolts to her feet. “Oh no! This is bad! Yo-chan, can you dry me off? I gotta change, like, _right now_.”

Yo rolls her eyes. “One of these days, I’m not gonna be here to help you.”

“Right, but _today_ you’re here, so help me! Please?” Chika gives Yo her best puppy dog eyes.

Yo sighs, and holds her hands out. “Fine… come closer, I need to be in contact to absorb moisture.”

Chika grins, and sticks her head out towards Yo. Yo runs her hand through Chika’s hair, activating the other component of her quirk - ‘moisture absorption’. Drawing the moisture in Chika’s hair into her own body, it doesn’t take long before Chika’s hair is completely dried off. “There, all done. I’ll be waiting for you downstairs, okay?”

A few minutes later, Chika hurries downstairs, properly dressed and no longer sopping wet.

“I’m ready, let’s go!” She says, running straight past Yo and through the front door of the Takami family inn. “Yo-chan, come on!”

“Chika! What did I tell you about using the guest entrance…! That girl, she’s incorrigible!” Mito growls, running a hand through her short hair. Turning to Yo, she says, “Yo-chan, keep an eye on her, alright? Especially on examination day. I don’t want the doctors thinking we’re mishandling her or something.”

Yo smiles. “I’ve been doing that since forever… but I’ll try my best!”

* * *

Running after Chika, it doesn’t take long for the more athletic girl to catch up. They’re headed to the local quirk clinic, which specializes in treating quirk-related conditions. Not that either of them needs treatment - it’s just time for Chika’s appointment.

Ever since gaining her quirk in her second year of middle school, Chika’s been attending regular appointments with a specialist in the clinic to ensure that she was developing her quirk properly. Every other month, she has to get a comprehensive check-up on her whole body, to make sure nothing’s going awry. Today is the day for one of those check-ups.

The Uchiura quirk clinic, like most other buildings in the town, is a compact building, two floors, with a modestly sized floor plan. Compared some of the quirk hospitals in larger cities, it’s pitifully small, but for a town like Uchiura, it’s enough. Pushing past the glass doors leading into the waiting room, Chika smiles and waves at the brown-haired girl sitting at the front desk.

“Takami-san! Welcome!” She smiles back, brushing her bangs out of her eyes and giving Chika a friendly little wave.

“Shiina-chan! I’ve come to play again!” Chika says, coming up to the counter. “Is the doctor ready?”

Shiina is a third-year student, interning at the clinic because of her quirk, “Body Analysis”, which allows her to perform body scans with only her naked eyes. She shakes her head. “She’s seeing another patient right now - how about I go through the procedures with you first? I can deliver the analysis to the office later.”

“Sure!” Chika chirps, following Shiina as she steps out from behind the counter. “Yo-chan, I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Sure.” Yo looks around to find a seat - it shouldn’t take too long for Shiina to be done with Chika’s analysis.

Shiina leads Chika into a side room, and asks Chika to strip down to her underwear. The normal procedure consists of regular measurements such as height, weight, and blood pressure, as well as more exotic measurements only available via Shiina’s quirk, such as muscle structure examinations, organ examinations, bone integrity examinations, and brain scans.

“Hmm… well, at least you’ve been eating properly.” Shiina hums, writing information down onto a notepad.

“Eh? Did I gain weight?”

“Well…” Shiina smiles, but doesn’t respond, continuing to make notes. “Let’s see… no unusual organ features… digestive system is okay… muscular structure is… hm…” She pauses for a moment before continuing. “Nervous system is okay… brain development is…”

Shiina smirks. “…Lacking.”

“…” Chika blinks. “…Hey!”

“You’re gold!” Shiina pats Chika on the back. “Put your clothes back on - once the doctor is done seeing her patients you’ll be next.”

“Wait, what was that about brain development—”

“I’ll need to see to some other business, so just wait outside for a moment while the doctor finishes up…”

Shiina gives Chika a smile, and disappears behind a door into a backroom.

“…” Chika stares at the closed door for a moment before wandering back into the waiting room.

“Yo-chan…” Chika stumbles towards Yo, teary-eyed. “Am I lacking in brain development…?”

“Huh? Ah, um, well…” Yo smiles rigidly. “Yes? Uh! No. Definitely no.”

“…Yo-chan…”

Chika falls to the ground. “I see how this is… betrayal from my closest comrade…”

“Ah— I didn’t mean to say that out loud, Chika-chan…Ah! I mean, I didn’t mean it-!”

Before Yo can wound Chika’s pride even further, the door to the consultation room opens, and the most bizarre thing walks out—

“Ah…I can’t believe I got my zipper stuck again, Maru-chan…”

A large, mascot suit like figure enters the waiting room, vaguely fish-like in appearance, with a velvet dark-blue outer coat with lighter patches to represent scales. It has rigid fins positioned strategically over its body, including two behind its head that resemble pig-tails, and short stumpy legs that let out a squeak whenever the mascot doll takes a step. It also has stubby arms tipped with hand-like fins, currently covering the mascot suit’s face in shame.

Walking next to the mascot suit is a shorter girl with long brown hair, holding one of the mascot suit’s hand-fins consolingly.

“It’s not Ruby-chan’s fault, zura… You’re naturally clumsier when transformed, zura.”

“But still… Ah, Onee-chan is going to scold me when I get home…”

The mascot suit waddles out of the clinic, with the girl following close behind. It has some trouble fitting through the doorway, and it takes a combined effort of the suit and the girl before it manages to push past.

Yo and Chika are silent for a moment, staring at the unusual duo as they leave the building.

“…That was a Coelacanth mascot suit… right?” Yo says eventually, gesturing at the door. “Like the dolls sold in the Deep Sea Aquarium…?”

“Yup. That’s… weird. Kinda cute, though. I’d buy one… ” Chika comments, before looking thoughtful for a moment. “But, that was a girl’s voice, right? Is that her quirk? Transforming into that mascot suit?”

“Well… quirks come in all shapes and sizes, I suppose.” Yo sighs.

“No truer words have ever been said, Yo-chan~”

Yo and Chika look towards the consultation room again. This time a woman with long purple hair, wearing a lab coat, pokes her head out, giving them a cheeky smile. “Quirks are unique - like fingerprints, or personalities… which is why it’s important to take care of your quirks.”

She smiles at Chika. “How are you doing, Chikacchi?”

Toujou Nozomi - the specialist Honoka sent to oversee Chika’s quirk development. She was only supposed to drop by every so often for Chika’s appointments, but after seeing the dismal state of the local clinic, she decided to stay and serve as a permanent quirk consultant. She instituted several reforms - including bringing on student assistants like Shiina.

“I’m doing great, Toujou-sensei! Never been better!”

Chika gives Nozomi the thumbs up.

“Eh~ Is that so?” Nozomi smiles slyly. “You haven’t been overusing your quirk, have you?”

“O-Of course not!”

“Hmm…” Nozomi chuckles, and gestures into the consultation room. “Come on in - let’s get the check-up started. Yo-chan, you can come too.”

Nodding, Yo follows Chika into Nozomi’s office, sitting down in front of Nozomi’s desk. Her office is fairly standard, with shelves and books and various medical equipment and materials lining the walls and tables. There’s a bed in one corner, looking like it’s been recently used, as well as a cork board with various pictures tacked up. Most are of famous pro-heroes, including Miss Miracle and A-RISE - Honoka and Tsubasa - as well as others Chika can recognize: Yazawa Nico, Sonoda Umi, Hoshizora Rin… all famous big-name pro-heroes.

“So… let’s see. Takami Chika, I have your analysis report right here…” Nozomi flips through the notes, her eyes scanning over the words quickly. She pauses for a moment, reading over a sentence again, and a devilish smile spreads across her face. “Chikacchi~ It’s bad to lie to adults, you know~?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about…!” Chika stammers, trying to keep her voice steady.

Yo sighs. She’s seen this coming from a mile away.

“According to Shiinacchi’s report, your muscles are suffering from multiple repeated micro-fractures. She hypothesizes it’s stress-related…” Nozomi taps her notepad, keeping an eye on Chika’s reaction. “Probable cause: exhaustion. And not just from normal use…”

The girl is sweating bullets, but trying her best to keep a straight face.

Chika’s quirk is, in many ways, very similar to Honoka’s: upon certain circumstances, Chika can receive a drastic boost in physical strength and speed. Nozomi says it’s fate, and that Chika’s meant to obtain a quirk similar to her idol, but more likely it’s just coincidence. But, where Honoka’s certain circumstance is the selfless desire to help people, Chika’s is much less impressive…

…Chika gets stronger when she ingests mikan. Something about rapid metabolizing of mikan juice, converting it to pure energy that’s many times more efficient than regular digestion.

And because of her love for mikan, well… she’s been activating her quirk much more than Nozomi recommends her to do.

“Chikacchi~ Hold your arm out, please~” Nozomi has a smile on her face, but Yo still gets a shiver down her spine when Nozomi speaks - it’s like an instinctual reaction towards a great power…

Reluctantly Chika holds her arm out, and Nozomi starts running her hands over it, carefully feeling for muscles and ligaments. From Yo’s perspective, it almost looks like a massage - but from the many times Yo has been along for Chika’s appointments, she’s learned that Nozomi is feeling the condition of Chika’s muscles with her finely honed senses.

“Hmm…”

Nozomi frowns, and reaches into her lab coat, fishing out a familiar deck of tarot cards. Setting it on the table, she closes her eyes, and hovers her hand above the deck for a few seconds before finally drawing a card. Flipping it over, she glances at the image, and smiles.

“Temperance,” She says, showing the card to Chika and Yo. An angel, pouring water between two jugs. “I’m sure you two get the gist without me explaining it, but… you’re being too hasty with your quirk training, Chika-chan. I understand you’re eager to grow quickly, and it’s true that you’ve adapted to your quirk faster than expected, but you’re training yourself too hard, and it’s showing in your muscles. They’re fine for now - they’ve healed up nicely - but if you continue to increase your training load you’ll end up hurting yourself.”

“Sorry, Toujou-sensei…”

“Ah, don’t look so down! It’s good that you’re enthusiastic about your quirk - the worst case scenario would be someone hating the quirk they possess.” Nozomi grins and reaches over, ruffling Chika’s hair. “It doesn’t suit a cute girl like you to be all worried. Temperance is about balance - so while you should take care with your quirk, you should still have some fun with it!”

“Eh?” Chika looks up, confused.

“What, did you think I was going to scold you or something?” Nozomi laughs. “I’m not Elicchi. The urge to get stronger! To reach further heights! To go beyond the impossible! Oh, to be young… I think your dream is wonderful, Chikacchi. Which is exactly why you should exercise more care when training. I don’t want you to fall on the first step.”

“So… fight on! You have potential, now all that’s left is for you to go and realize it!” Nozomi grins, and claps her hands together. “Just keep following the diet regimen I set for you, and again, don’t over exert yourself. Use your quirk for only thirty minutes per day, for now. That’s all! You are dismissed! I’ll send you the results of the body-check later!”

Chika smiles, and nods. “Thank you, Toujou-sensei!”

Turning to Yo, she grins, and leaves the consultation room, running outside.

She passed the examination-

So all that’s left is… the new school year!

* * *

“Wahhhh I’m late! Mom, Mito-nee, Shima-nee, I’m leaving!”

“Chika! Your uniform!”

“Ahhh!”

Of course, everything goes wrong from the outset.

“Where’s Yo-chan?!”

“She went ahead, because you were so late.”

“Betrayal! Again! Our friendship is dead!”

Chika sprints out of the Tochiman inn, bread in mouth. The bus has already left, and the next one comes too late, so there’s only one thing to do—

She reaches into her bag, and pulls out a bottle of mikan juice. She quickly crams the rest of the bread into her mouth, swallows, and starts to drink.

Immediately, the familiar tingling sensation starts bubbling up from the pits of her stomach. At first it feels like she has to barf, but the feeling quickly disperses all over her body, an insistent tingle that wraps around her arms, legs, her torso, everywhere.

Then the next stage - power. Pure, raw, unadulterated power surges through her veins. It feels like she can do anything, go anywhere - lift up the entire world if she so pleased - she grins, and pushes her feet against the ground, tensing her muscles, and—

Leaps into the air. The bus takes a roundabout route around town, but as the crow flies, it takes much less time to travel between the two! Chika grins uncontrollably as the wind whips her hair back and the world streaks past around her. She lands on a rooftop, tumbles, and gets back on her feet, taking a running start and leaping again. Frog hopping over buildings, trees, rooftops, refuelling occasionally between jumps, it doesn’t take long before the hill where the school is is in sight.

Stopping at the base of the hill, Chika leans on her knees to catch her breath. Breathing deeply, she pulls her phone out - safe! Still five minutes. She reaches for her bottle - she’ll hit the top in a jiffy - only to find, to her horror, that the bottle is _empty._

“Eh?” Chika shakes the bottle. Still empty. “ _Eh?_ ”

She shakes the bottle again, hoping for a miracle. Nothing.

Ah… she supposes being five minutes late is better than thirty minutes late, but still…

“Need a lift, princess?”

Chika stops, and turns around. Yo grins, and waves. “I wanted to grab some snacks before school, so I got off the bus a little earlier. Guess it’s good that I did, huh?”

“Yo-chan… you’re my saviour…!”

“Ah, I’d like to brag, but the opening ceremony is in… three minutes?! Chika, grab on to me, and don’t let go!” Yo cries out after checking her phone. Making sure everything is secured, with Chika grabbed on tight, Yo holds her arms straight towards the ground, and activates her quirk.

Like a pressurized pump, a torrent of water explodes out of Yo’s palms, lifting them up like a rocket engine. “I can’t fly us straight up, but…!”

Angling her hands ever so slightly, Yo sets the two of them on a blisteringly fast glide, zooming up the road leading to school. It normally takes a good deal of time to make the trek up to the school, but with their quirks the journey becomes much quicker.

Never have Yo and Chika been more glad that the ‘no quirks in public’ law isn’t enforced as strongly in this small, out of the way town.

They made it with only a few seconds to spare, joining the queue to the auditorium for the opening assembly. Chika and Yo are in different queues. Uranohoshi is a well-respected academy, and has two courses - general education and hero training - but because it’s recently come under hard times, the hero training course is very exclusive. Yo is one of the heroes-in-training. Chika is still a general student. They wave goodbye to each other, and get seated on opposite sides of the auditorium.

The speech is much the same. Blah blah blah work hard blah blah blah have fun blah blah blah try your best, that sort of thing. Chika’s more looking forward to the morning lessons, which are shared between the hero and general courses.

“Looks like we’re in the same class again, huh, Chika-chan?”

“We’re always in the same class, Yo-chan. I think they don’t have enough people for more classes.”

“…Fair enough. There’s only two other second year trainees, apparently. And they’re all in different classes.”

Even though they’re in different courses, functionally Yo and Chika are in the same class. The hero trainees just have to miss the afternoon classes to do hero training.

Chika kicks back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling. “I wonder if we’ll get new students this year?”

“Nah… a transfer student? Here?” Yo shakes her head. “Not likely.”

“Class, settle down. We have a new student, so I want you all on best behaviour.”

“…Oops.” Chika and Yo look up. Their class teacher clears her throat, signalling for the class to settle down.

“Yes, yes, I know. It’s rare, but it happens. We have a transfer student from Tokyo joining our class this year. She’ll be joining the general course, so I expect she’ll fit right in. All of you, do your best so she feels welcome, okay?”

The door to the classroom slides open. A beautiful girl with long, wine-red hair walks in. She seems quiet, and composed, and each step she takes seems feather-light. Stopping in the middle of the classroom, she turns to face the rest of the class, taking a deep breath.

“My name is Sakurauchi Riko. I transferred from Tokyo. Nice to meet you all.” She does a small, polite bow.

Chika’s not sure who, but there’s someone in the class who calls out, “What’s your quirk, Sakurauchi-san?”

“Ah-” Riko looks caught off guard for a moment. She looks at the teacher, who nods approvingly, and back to the class. She closes her eyes, focuses, and suddenly, all noise ceases. The chatter, the wind, the birds outside, the rustling of trees, even the distant babble of waves. It falls silent.

And in its place, music. Beautiful piano music fills the room, washing over everyone.

“I can make music from everyday noise…” Riko bows. “I’m sorry that it’s not an impressive quirk, but… I hope we can get along!”

* * *

It’s dark. There’s a lamp, illuminating an almost-bare desk, and the silhouette of a man. The rest of the area is shrouded with darkness, but the bares outlines of bookshelves, filled with books, can also be seen. Dust drifts in between the dim beam shone by the lamp.

The man leafs through a sheaf of old, worn paper documents. Dog-eared, and crumpled at the edges. He peers closer, revealing a glint of purple in his eyes. The documents are aged, but seem to be bios of numerous children. He’s focusing on one in particular - one labeled Sakurauchi Riko, from a few years ago.

“You managed to get away once, but… as I thought, common police are worthless. Can’t even keep a girl’s location secure.”

The man’s voice sounds like a knife being dragged over sandpaper - dry, and harsh. He smiles thinly, shuffling the papers before setting it down.

“It’s very interesting, you know? Your _quirk_ … I want to see it again… The circumstances that led to such a powerful ability…”

A black gloved hand reaches out, and snuffs out the lamp.

“…I’ll make you mine, once again…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The winds of change sweep across Uchiura! Who is Sakurauchi Riko? And what is the darkness trailing behind her...?
> 
> Hero dossiers #2!
> 
>  **Takami Chika**  
>  **Quirk: Mikan Monster (formerly quirkless)**  
>  Upon ingesting mikan juice, Chika gains a temporary boost in power. The duration of the boost depends on how hard Chika exerts herself during the boost, and the concentration of the juice.
> 
> At her current level, eating a single mikan allows her to perform at roughly three times the limit of a normal human being - but only for a couple of minutes! Drinking juice is more efficient, but less tasty~
> 
>  **Watanabe You - High Dive**  
>  **Quirk: Fountain**  
>  You can shoot water jets from her hands and feet. The water jets can vary in strength, but at their peak can be very powerful, capable of cracking concrete with sustained pressure and propelling You in semi-flight like a jet pack. She can run out of water, however, if she uses it too much. She recharges by being amongst water - she can absorb atmospheric water, but recharges more quickly if immersed in liquid water.
> 
> Her power-move is to jet high up then come down with a dive-kick! She’s not tried it on anyone yet, though, and is ashamed of calling out technique names, so it’s thus far nameless.
> 
>  **Sakurauchi Riko**  
>  **Quirk: Everyday Music**  
>  Riko can turn any type of daily noise into music, which she and anyone she is in range of can hear.
> 
> It seems Riko can’t control the music that comes out, but the music reads the mood and changes according to the situation. If she’s in a lift, it automatically produces elevator music (?) It also works underwater!


	3. The Cool Kids Club

“Now, class, I know it’s very exciting to be in high school, but we mustn’t forget our discipline.”

Sato Yoko, the homeroom teacher for the new batch of first years, claps her hand together. Immediately the class quiets down, though there’s still an undertone of excited murmuring. After all - it’s their first day of high school. Yoko doesn’t try to silence that as well, kids will always be kids in the end.

Turning around to the blackboard, she writes down her name in big, bold letters. “My name is Yamada Yoko. I’ll be your homeroom teacher for this year. I teach PE normally, but sometimes I cover for mathematics as well.”

She smiles a the class. “Let’s get along!”

The class responds with a chorus of okays, and she nods satisfactorily. “Now, how about we get started with introductions? We have the whole morning to ourselves, so there’s no need to rush. Tell us something interesting about yourself, maybe a hobby, or about your quirk, or something you’re good at. Let’s start with this row…”

There are some twenty odd students in the newest cohort of first years. A little less than last year’s, but still a considerable amount. Amongst them, Yoko’s been told in particular to watch out for a few students - not because they’re trouble makers, or anything, but just because their circumstances are… unique.

She nods along as the class introduces themselves, one by one. As she expected, most of the kids opt to show off their quirks for the self-introduction. She’s relieved that not many of them seem to have disruptive or destructive quirks - she remembers last year one of the girls would hulk out after drinking mikan juice, and on average they had to switch tables once a month.

Finally, the introductions comes to the first girl she’s been told to keep an open mind about. She has long brown hair, soft golden eyes and a bit of a rounded figure. She shuffles to the front of the room, and bows slowly.

“Nice to meet you…” Her voice is slow as well, soft and sleepy sounding. “My name is Kunikida Hanamaru, zura.”

“Something interesting about me is…” She thinks for a long moment, tilting her head as the seconds tick by. “…I enjoy Japanese literature, zura, and I can remember all of the great writers…”

She bows again, and slowly ambles her way back to her seat.

Kunikida. Yoko recalls that her quirk allows her to have perfect information retention, at the expense of reaction speed. Something about a memory palace. Yoko doesn’t quite understand it, but traditional classroom learning as she knows it doesn’t quite apply to Hanamaru. She’s heard that the girl actually has knowledge up to university level, she simply stays in high school because she doesn’t want to stand out.

The next girl is someone most teachers were cautioned about. A small girl with red hair done up in twin tails, and distinctive turquoise blue eyes.

“I-I’m… I’m…” Her voice sounds more like the squeak of a mouse than a voice. “Kurosawa R-Ruby…”

“Something interesting about me is… is…!”

Her face goes red, and she looks like she’s about to explode.

Then she _actually_ explodes, flipping Yoko’s table and filling the classroom with a sudden burst of smoke and dust. Hacking and coughing, Yoko waves her hand in front her face, trying to clear out the smoke.

“Oh no, I- I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…!”

“It’s… it’s fine, Kurosawa-san. I should have been more considerate of you…”

Yoko stares up at the giant fluffy fish, smiling weakly. “You’ve done very well. Do you need to rest in the nurse’s office?”

Ruby, in the form of a coelacanth mascot suit, bows deeply, her fins covering her face in shame.

“I’ll— I… Excuse me!”

She straightens up, turns and rushes out of the classroom, her bulky form clipping the classroom door and ripping it clean out of its hinges. She stops, staring at the door for a moment before squealing an apology and running off down the hallway, out of sight of the classroom.

Yoko sighs, watching her go. Kurosawa Ruby. Second daughter of the locally renowned Kurosawa family, of course. Incredibly twitchy, and her inability to control her quirk probably doesn’t help things either. But she’s a good girl at heart, and tries her best all the time.

…Though, she’s going to have to fix the nervousness if she wants to succeed in the hero course…

Shaking her head, Yoko tries her best to remain chipper as she says, “Everyone can be a little nervous on their first day back to school. Let’s not make a big deal out of this, alright?”

She glances at the busted down door, and her flipped table.

“…Anyway, shall the next student make their introductions?”

“Absolutely.”

A tall girl, of slender frame, with long dark blue hair and vivid rose eyes stands up, striking a mysterious pose before taking a step forward to the front of the class.

“Allow me to grace you all with my— _whoa!_ ”

All she manages is a step before she stumbles on a slab of loose flooring and falls face-first onto the ground, landing with a painful thud. A few moments later she pulls herself back up, her forehead red and painful looking.

“Ahem, as I was saying, allow me to grace you all with my dark presence. I am Yohane, the fallen angel…?!!”

Someone’s water bottle was leaking, and Yoshiko just happens to step into the puddle, slipping and falling hard on her butt. She bites back a pained squeal, and rubbing her backside, stands back up shakily, continuing to march towards the front of the classroom.

“I am Yohane… the fallen angel… won’t you become my little demons…?!!”

It seems Ruby’s transformation before dislodged a bit of the plaster from the ceiling - a chunk falls down and beans Yoshiko straight in the head. Not enough to do serious damage, but she still crumples to the floor in pain, rolling around and hugging her head.

“Ow ow ow ow ow— why is it always me?!”

Yoko grimaces. Tsushima Yoshiko. Her quirk seems to make her a magnet for misfortune, giving her the worst of any situation. She looks around, searching for an out.

“Erm… Kunikida-san, could you please escort Tsushima-san to the nurse’s office? And check on Kurosawa-san as well?”

“…Okay…”

Hanamaru nods politely, and slowly gets up, ambling over to Yoshiko and helping her up. Yoshiko limply allows herself to be dragged off to the nurse’s office, her head still throbbing from the dropped plaster. Once they’ve left the classroom, Yoko sighs, and looks over the class, trying to salvage this mess of an orientation day.

“So… who’s next?”

* * * * *

“It’s over… it’s all over…”

Yoshiko sobs, covering her face with her forearm. “My long awaited high school debut… it has fallen to the pits of Hell, with no chance of return… Could this be… Gehenna?”

“…Well, it wasn’t _that_ bad, Yoshiko-chan.” Hanamaru says, consolingly.

Yoshiko looks up.

“You remember my name? I mean, no! My name is Yohane!”

Hanamaru smiles, as she pushes open the door to the nurse’s office. “I don’t forget, Yoshiko-chan. Especially not my best friend from my childhood.”

“Zuramaru…”

Yoshiko looks touched for a moment, before she frowns and repeats, “It’s Yohane! Get it right!”

“…You should probably get your forehead cleaned up by the nurse, zura…”

Hanamaru pushes Yoshiko into the office despite her protests, closing the door behind her.

The nurse’s office is just a room, with a desk, a cabinet of medical supplies, and a bed, which a big sobbing coelacanth is currently occupying.

Sitting at the desk is in fact not the nurse, but a familiar face: Shiina, the third year who interned at the quirk clinic over the summer.

“…Shiina-senpai!” Hanamaru exclaims, waving at the third-year.

The older girl smiles, and waves back. “Kunikida-san, hello! The nurse isn’t in right now, but if it’s not an emergency, I can try my best to help.”

“Ah, Yoshiko-chan here—”

Hanamaru pushes a struggling Yoshiko forward. “…She fell over a few times, and got hit by falling plaster, zura.”

It takes Hanamaru a visible moment of focus to recall what had happened to Yoshiko, but Shiina just nods, and beckons for Yoshiko to come closer. “Let me take a look at you, Yoshiko-chan.”

“It’s…! …whatever.”

Yoshiko sighs in resignation, and pouts, glancing off to one side while Shiina inspects Yoshiko carefully. She nods after a few moments, and reaches for a box of bandaids.

“She’ll be fine. Her forehead might bruise a little, as with her knees and behind, but there’s no real injury except for a scraped knee.” Shiina hands Yoshiko a bandaid. “There, just put it on and you’ll be right as rain.”

Yoshiko nods obediently, and tries to put on the bandaid. It clumps up, and she has to try again with a fresh bandaid.

While she does that, Hanamaru carefully navigates her way to Ruby’s bedside, sitting down next to the big, quivering pile of coelacanth girl. The girl is sniffling, no doubt stressing over her disastrous self-introduction like she stresses over most every other little thing in life.

It takes Hanamaru a few moments to piece together the words she wants to say.

“…You did the best you could, zura.” She says simply, patting the mascot doll on the head.

“H-Hanamaru-chan?” Ruby’s squeaky voice emanates from the mascot doll, watery blue eyes peeking out from under her fins.

“…Do you want a hug, zura?” Hanamaru asks slowly, spreading her arms out.

Ruby sniffs, and nods timidly, clumsily picking herself up and crushing Hanamaru in a big, fluffy coelacanth hug. Her transformed strength is honestly somewhat intimidating to Hanamaru, even after all these years, but she just nods understandingly, rubbing her cheek against Ruby’s fluff.

“…Remember what Tojo-sensei told you?” Hanamaru asks softly.

“C-Calm down.” Ruby repeats the mantra in her mind. She closes her eyes, and whispers under her breath. “F-Find my center and f-focus. Remember who I am.”

She feels the swelling anxiety inside her ebb away in Hanamaru’s calming presence, and when she opens her eyes again, she’s back to normal, but still clinging on to Hanamaru for dear life.

“Uuu…” Ruby sobs, allowing her head to fall and rest against Hanamaru’s shoulder. “Ruby messed up… And made a fool of myself… Onee-chan is going to scold me…”

Hanamaru sighs, patting Ruby on the back. “…I’m sure she won’t, zura.”

While Ruby hiccups and collects herself, Hanamaru glances over to Yoshiko, who has finally overcome her misfortune (after some five or so wasted bandaids) and has finally patched up her knee. Hanamaru gestures at the other side of the bed, and reluctantly the girl wanders over, looking slightly awkward.

“…Ruby-chan, I’d like you to meet Yoshiko-chan, zura. You missed her introduction.”

“Yohane!”

“Yoshiko-chan—” “ _Yohane!_ ” “—is a childhood friend of mine. I hope you two can get along, zura.” Hanamaru smiles encouragingly, looking between the two girls and obstinately ignoring Yoshiko’s protests.

Ruby looks shyly over to Yoshiko, nodding politely at her. “H…Hi, Yoshiko- ah, Yohane-chan?”

Yoshiko nods in satisfaction, placing a hand proudly on her chest. “Yes! It is a pleasure to meet you too, little demon.”

“…Little demon?” Ruby tilts her head, confused.

“Little demons are those who have pledged their soul in allegiance to me, Yohane, the fallen angel!”

“…She means her friends, zura.” Hanamaru adds, helpfully.

Yoshiko blushes, and glowers at Hanamaru. “Zuramaru… why must you oppose me? I’ll not forget this grand betrayal.”

As Yoshiko contemplates the possibilities of wrecking great demonic vengeance on Zuramaru - perhaps putting hot sauce in her lunch when she’s not looking, or drawing silly pictures in the corners of her notebook - the bell suddenly rings, prompting all three of the girls to look up.

“Ah… it seems the lesson is over, zura.”

Hanamaru murmurs, looking over to the other two. “It’s the first day, so we only have the first period, zura. We have free time now. Do you want to do anything, zura?”

Ruby taps her chin, thinking for a moment before shaking her head. Yoshiko shrugs noncommittally.

“We could check out the second years. They’re having their quirks retested now, right?” Yoshiko eventually suggests, after a few seconds of awkward silence.

“Oh, yeah!” Ruby perks up at the mention of quirks, sitting straighter. “They should be in the gym. Can we go?”

Hanamaru smiles. “Of course, zura!”

Waving Shiina goodbye, the three of them quickly file out of the nurse’s office and rush off to the gym.

Quirk testing is an unofficial test all students have to take, regardless of whether they want to become a hero or not. The aim is to determine whether a quirk is developing properly, and whether the students are using their quirks appropriately. The first years will be doing theirs in a few days, but since there’s time and the gym isn’t occupied, the second years are having theirs directly on the first day.

The three girls make their way to the gym easily enough - there’s already a small audience sitting by the sidelines, watching the second year class demonstrate their quirks and have them be recorded for posterity’s sake. Ruby, Yohane and Hanamaru quickly find a decent spot off to one side and sit down, watching the display attentively.

“Ah, there’s Watanabe-senpai! She’s one of the students in the hero course! Ah— she’s so cool!”

Ruby points out excitedly. An excited muttering passes through the crowd as they spot Yo hydrating herself, readying herself for a trick. The floor beneath her is covered with a plastic mat to make sure the water doesn’t seep through.

Yo smirks confidently to herself, before taking a measured step forward, and leaping up, looking like she’s about to do a forward somersault - when jets erupt from her palms, propelling her a full three circles before she touches down daintily on the other side of the water-proof plastic, throwing her hands up triumphantly.

A smattering of applause comes from the crowd, and she looks slightly bashful at first, but after Chika mutters something in her ear, she grins, and nods. Stepping back onto the water-proof plastic, she breathes in for a moment, and her jets shoot out, angled directly down. She seems to concentrate for a moment, and the jets strengthen even more, splashing water everywhere. Then - she lifts off, rocketing up towards the top of the gymnasium. She switches off her jets right before she hits the ceiling, and latches onto the rafters up top, sitting there quite comfortably.

“Whoa…! Did you see that?! She flew up to the rafters!” Ruby’s eyes are practically glowing. “Watanabe-senpai’s quirk is so versatile and useful! I bet she’ll become a really popular hero, I just know it!”

Yoshiko stares at her, surprised at Ruby’s sudden shift in personality. Hanamaru leans close, whispering, “Ruby’s a huge quirk geek, zura. She always gets like this when it comes to quirks.”

“Hm…” Yoshiko hums, glancing at Ruby, commentating on the proceedings of the quirk test excitedly. “The little demon has more to her than meets the eye, it seems.”

Hanamaru smiles, and nods. “She’s in the hero course, too, zura.”

“Really?” Yoshiko blinks. “No kidding?”

Hanamaru shakes her head. “She is.”

“Huh…” Yoshiko looks at Ruby with newfound respect.

“Ah, Hanamaru-chan! Look! The senpai with the orange hair - I’ve never seen her before!”

Ruby suddenly says, tugging urgently on Hanamaru’s sleeve. Hanamaru looks over just in time to spot Chika scramble deftly up the temporary climbing-wall set up at the back of the gym, making leaps and jumps that don’t seem humanly possible.

“She’s climbing so quickly! Do you think she has a physical enhancement quirk? Pure enhancement quirks are rare these days, I wonder what quirks her parents have? What’s her name?”

Ruby babbles away enthusiastically, gasping when Chika makes an impossible leap and latches onto the edge of the top of the climbing wall with one hand, and clapping in amazement when Chika effortlessly lifts herself up with only one arm.

“Is she in the hero course? I don’t remember seeing her on the list! Who is- ah! She fell!”

In her bragging from the top of the wall, Chika loses her footing, and with a look of dumb surprise on her face, she falls, plummeting to the ground. Thankfully, Yo jets in just in time to snatch her out of the air, prompting Chika to latch onto her in a bone-crushing hug.

“She looks like a good friend of Watanabe-senpai, zura.” Hanamaru observes.

“Oh, of course! If she’s a friend of Watanabe-senpai’s, she must also have an amazing quirk!” Ruby exclaims, nodding like that makes all the sense in the world.

“I think your quirk is pretty incredible too,” Yoshiko comments offhandedly. She doesn’t mean anything much by it, but judging by Ruby’s reaction, she may as well have paid the girl the world’s most flowery compliment.

Ruby’s cheeks go bright red, and she stammers incoherently, “Eh- I, um, no, my quirk is, er, _ermmmmm—_ ”

She’s suddenly engulfed in smoke, and the next moment, Yoshiko is crushed against the wall by a heavy fluffy mascot suit.

_“WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME?!”_

Yoshiko’s screeches are muffled by the layers of fluff and fabric, but her displeasure is clear.

Hanamaru sighs. They should probably leave before they start causing any more of a scene.

* * * * *

A little while later, once Ruby has calmed down enough to turn back to human form, the three of them left school, heading down into town to wander. It’s mostly Hanamaru and Ruby leading Yoshiko around - even if Yoshiko lives in nearby Numazu, turns out she’s not entirely familiar with Uchiura, so the pair take it upon themselves to familiarize Yoshiko to the town.

“…And there’s the Shougetsu cafe. Their food is really good, and the owner is very nice.”

Ruby concludes, pausing for a moment. “That’s most of the main sights. Right, Hanamaru-chan?”

Hanamaru ponders the question for a moment, her eyes unfocusing as she peruses her memory. Eventually she snaps back to reality, and gives Ruby a nod. “You’ve mentioned all the important sights, zura.”

“Great,” Yoshiko stretches, feeling a mild ache in her legs. She’s more of a indoors girl, and she’s done a lot of walking today. It doesn’t help that her walks are generally fraught with dangers and misfortune. She’s already fallen over three times and almost been hit by falling flower pots twice over the course of their hour-long stroll. “Can we go and get something to drink at the cafe, then? I require offerings of sugar, and caffeine.”

“Yeah! Um, I recommend their milk tea, it’s very good…” Ruby nods enthusiastically, as the two head towards the cafe.

Hanamaru smiles, glad that her two friends are getting along. She moves to follow, but before she can get too far she’s stopped by a figure in a black hoodie, with the hood drawn up.

“Your uniform…”

It’s a woman. Her skin is almost an inky black colour, and her eyes are a manic, bloody red. Long, messy hair falls out from under the hood in tangled locks. Her voice is hoarse, like she doesn’t speak much normally.

“You’re a student of Uranohoshi Girl’s Academy?”

Hanamaru nods slowly, looking up at her. The woman is tall, much taller than Hanamaru, even Yoshiko who’s one of the tallest out of the first years, as far as Hanamaru can tell.

“Erm… I am, zura.” Hanamaru says slowly. “Why are you asking?”

“Do you know this girl?”

She reaches into a pocket and withdraws a tattered photo: a girl with long wine-red hair and gold eyes. Hanamaru studies the photo for a moment before shaking her head. “Sorry, I don’t recognize her, zura.”

“Hm.” The woman nod shortly, and stows away the photo. “That will be all.”

She steps back, and wanders into a dark alleyway. Hanamaru peeks into the alley, but she’s already vanished from sight.

“…What was that about, zura?” Hanamaru tilts her head, confused.

“Oi, Zuramaru! Hurry up!”

Yoshiko calls to her, waving her hand at Hanamaru. Hanamaru hurries up to catch up to the two of them, though she still looks back to the alleyway.

“Who was that?” Ruby asks, tentatively. “She looked… scary…”

“She was looking for someone, zura.” Hanamaru says.

Yoshiko glances at the alley. “A seeker of the lost? How mysterious…”

Hanamaru shrugs, and she grabs Ruby and Yoshiko’s hands, dragging them into the cafe. “Well, it’s none of our business, zura - come on, let’s get some afternoon tea! I want cake, zura!”

“Zuramaru, you’re always hungry…”

“Well, I can’t help it, zura…”

The girls laugh and head into the cafe, not knowing how close they came to a brush with death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another perspective on things.
> 
> Quirk Dossier #3!
> 
> **Kurosawa Ruby**   
>  **Quirk: Fossil Mascot**
> 
> Ruby can transform her body into a big, fluffy mascot suit resembling a bipedal coelacanth. While in this form, her strength and durability vastly increases, and she does not need to breathe. She is clumsier in this state, though, and even slower than in her base form, only capable of a strange sort of waddle.
> 
> It seems she can’t fully control her transformation yet, and sometimes poofs when she’s in distress.
> 
> **Tsushima Yoshiko**   
>  **Quirk: Misfortune**
> 
> Yoshiko passively radiates an aura of bad luck. Normally it only surrounds herself, but she can expand this aura if she wishes to encompass a wider area. However, she cannot choose who to affect, only how large the field is, and she has no control over what happens in the field.
> 
> When people other than herself is included in the field, Yoshiko’s misfortune decreases - but she’s a good child so she keeps it confined to herself so others don’t get hurt ; - ;
> 
> **Kunikida Hanamaru**   
>  **Quirk: Library**
> 
> Hanamaru has an internalized library which stores all of the information that Hanamaru has come across in the past. However, accessing the information takes as much time as retrieving the information from an actual library of similar size. Even memories and skills are encapsulated in this. The retrieval of specific information becomes faster with practice, and Hanamaru has practiced most daily retrievals enough that she doesn’t need to take much longer than normal people to react to daily things, though she’s still on the slow side.


	4. Friend(ships)

“You do it.”

“No! You go!”

Chika and Yo are crouched at either side of the classroom doorway, peering into the inside of the room. Their prey: Sakurauchi Riko, who is on morning duty that day, writing the date and day of the week on the blackboard at the front of the classroom.

Speaking in hushed tones, Chika nudges Yo, who nudges Chika back with a goading grin. "Come on, you're the one who was all hyped about being friends with her, right?"

Chika pouts and gestures vigorously with her chin at Riko. "You're the one who's got girls hanging off you all the time, you go!"

"Chika-chan…" Yo narrows her eyes.

"Yo-chan!" Chika glares back.

"Umm…"

The two of them look up. Riko is staring between the two of them, her feet shuffling awkwardly on the spot.

"You realize that… I can hear you, right?"

Chika and Yo's cheeks go red, and they shoot to their feet, stammering out an apology.

"Ah!" Yo glances around the classroom at all the chairs, still stacked up on the tables. "Do you want us to help with setting up the classroom?"

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd be grateful for your help…" Riko says, nodding quickly.

"Hmm…" Chika thinks for a moment before frowning. "The way you talk is pretty formal, huh, Riko-chan?"

"Ah, well- is it?" Riko laughs awkwardly as she finishes writing down all the subjects for the day on the blackboard. "I think it's appropriate, though. It's only the second week of school, Takami-san…"

"Chika! Call me Chika, Takami-san is my mom. And my two sisters." Chika insists.

"Ah, in that case, you can just call me Yo," Yo calls out from the back of the classroom.

Riko looks between Chika and Yo, both of whom are smiling brightly at her, and tentatively says. "Okay… erm, Chika-chan, Yo-chan?"

Chika grins, nodding happily. With all three of them together, it doesn't take long before the whole classroom is set up and ready for the day. Chika has already set up at her desk, with her books and stationary set up. Leaning back in her chair, she stares up at the ceiling for a while before suddenly realizing something.

She sits up, looking over to Riko who's sitting in front of her. "Hey, Riko-chan? What happened to the girl who was supposed to do morning duty with you… erm… Suzuki-chan?"

When she and Yo arrived early to see Riko, she was alone. Normally there'd be two people on morning duty, not just one. Riko thinks about it for a moment before shrugging. "I suppose she could be skipping… It's pretty hard to wake up early in the morning just to do all of this physical labor…"

"Still, she shouldn't skip duty…" Chika begins before Yo cuts her off with a laugh.

"That's rich coming from you, Chika-chan," Yo says teasingly. "Didn't you get in trouble for skipping duty often last year?"

"Yo-chan!" Chika pouts, tossing an eraser in her direction. Yo deflects it with a quick spurt of pressurized water from her finger, sticking her tongue out at Chika.

"It's true!" She grins cheekily, ducking to avoid more projectile stationary.

As they begin to pelt each other with stationary, Riko can't help but smile at their shenanigans - Chika and Yo are certainly strange, but… they're not entirely unpleasant.

"You two really are good friends, huh?" Riko asks with a smile. There's a hint of sadness, a certain wistfulness or longing in that smile, that makes Chika stop and glance at her thoughtfully.

Gesturing at Yo for a truce, Chika nods at Riko's question. "Ever since we were kids."

"Childhood friends, huh… If I'm going to be honest, I never had many friends as a child," Riko admits, smiling weakly. "I wish I had something like what you two have."

"You were the quiet type, huh?" Chika asks.

Riko hesitates, thinking over her reply.

"…Something like that, I suppose. I've never really had an opportunity to get close to anyone."

"Well, then, you can be friends with us!" Chika says brightly, looking at Yo. "Right, Yo-chan?"

"Hmm?" Yo blinks then grins at Riko. "Oh, yeah! Totally."

She brushes her hair back, giving Riko a sunny smile. The trademark Yosoro smile. Riko might've blushed a little.

"I don't know how it works in Tokyo, but we're all friends here in Uchiura, "Chika smiles, and holds out her hand to Riko. "It's never too late to start!"

Riko stares at Chika's hand for a moment. "Friends…"

She says it like it's a foreign concept, the word sounding strange to her ears.

Then she smiles faintly, and reaches out to hold Chika's hand. "That would be nice."

* * * * *

It's the end of the morning block of lessons, and Chika has had quite enough of maths, and history, and classical literature. She groans loudly, letting her forehead hit the table with a quiet thunk. Riko, sitting in front of her, and Yo, who had been napping through class up until a few minutes ago, looked at her questioningly.

"Are- are you okay, Takami… er, Chika-chan?" Riko asks hesitantly, not sure what to make of Chika's sudden movement.

"Ignore her, Riko-chan. It just happens sometimes," Yo explains, smiling helplessly. "She needs to recharge her batteries."

"Ah…" Her head buried in her arms, Chika lets out a long weary sigh, sounding more like an old grandma than a young high school girl in the prime of her youth. "I'm tired…"

"Well done, Chika-chan. You made it," Yo says, patting Chika on the head, the sort of way one would pet a cute puppy. "Would you like a treat?"

"I need to recharge…" Chika mumbles, and surprises Yo by sitting up suddenly, looking sharply at Riko. "Riko-chan!"

Riko jerks back, caught off guard. "Y-yes?"

"Tell me about your quirk! All about it!" Chika says sharply.

Confused, Riko glances at Yo, who simply shrugs and says, "Girl loves her quirks."

Turning back to Chika, Riko sighs and thinks for a moment.

"Well, you already know the basics," Riko says, closing her eyes for a moment. The hum of the classroom fans fades, replaced by a light, jaunty piano tune. Some of their classmates look up, confused, before realizing it's just Riko and returning to their chatting. "I can turn ambient noise around me into music. I can't control what type of music comes out, though."

"Right, but I need the details."

Chika's eyes are practically glowing as she waits eagerly for more information, the fatigue apparently having completely left her system.

"How does that work? Does it physically change the noise? Some kind of acoustic interference? Neutralizing the noise and replacing it with a new sound?"

"Uh…" Riko's momentarily taken aback by the intelligence Chika is displaying, before mentally berating herself for being so rude. "I… don't think so. I've had tests done, and I don't physically emanate any sound or vibrations."

"Huh. So it's not a matter of the ambient noise being affected…" Chika furrows her brow, tapping her finger on the table thoughtfully.

"Oh!" Chika suddenly brightens up. "Could it be that instead of affecting the source - the ambient noise - it affects the receiver? Maybe you can project some sort of mechanism that influences the hearing of those around you, causing them to believe they're hearing music instead of noise?"

Riko blinks, considering the possibility. Eventually, though, she shakes her head. "No, the music can be recorded with sound equipment, so it's not just a mental thing…"

"Hm." Chika frowns, once again deep in thought. "It's almost like you're changing the noise just with your mind, but… there has to be some kind of mechanism behind it, you can't just change the nature of sound, that's just impossible."

"Here we go again…" Yo sighs, with a small exasperated smile on her face. "She's gonna be busy thinking about that for a while."

She stands up, stretching lazily and letting out a satisfied hum as she felt her back loosen up after a long morning of sitting down. Turning to Riko, Yo smiles and gestures at the door. "Wanna go for a walk? The weather's great today."

"Um… What about Chika-chan?" Riko asks, glancing at Chika, who appears to be running through several complex diagrams of possibilities regarding Riko's quirk.

Yo rolls her eyes, and squirts a small jet of water at the paper Chika is scribbling on, soaking it and splashing Chika in the face as well. She looks up, frowning at Yo. "Yo-chan! I was working."

"If you could take half the effort you put into quirk studies and put it into your other subjects, you'd probably be an ace student… not that I have any right to say anything about grades."

Yo sighs, and grabs Chika's hand, tugging her to her feet. "Come on, you mikan. We're gonna go for a stroll, you need the fresh air too. We can eat lunch outside."

Chika pouts, but allows Yo to drag her out of the classroom, with Riko shuffling behind them.

* * * * *

The air is warm that day, a light breeze rolling in from the sea and bringing a faint salty tang with it. The sound of birdsong is faint but omnipresent, relaxing students after their classes. It's a beautiful day, and Riko finds herself at a loss for words at how idyllic it seems. Chika and Yo, though, seem entirely unfazed by the beauty around them, and are already complaining about how humid it is.

They make their way downstairs, to the courtyard of the school where students are already milling about, enjoying their lunch break.

Yo is about to suggest heading somewhere more secluded where they can eat lunch in peace when she spots something out of the corner of her eye.

A bottle perched precariously on the top of the railings of the first-floor corridor tips over and falls towards the courtyard. There's a girl, a first year, standing right where the bottle is going to land, completely unaware of the danger she's in.

Yo leaps into action before she even fully processes what she’s seen, throwing her hand out and shooting a pressurized jet of water at the bottle while shouting, “ _Get down_!”

The water jet nails the bottle with pinpoint accuracy, knocking it off course and dashing it against the plaster wall behind the girl. The bottle smashes, splashing Yoshiko head to toe with sugary beverage before she can so much as blink.

“Ah…” Yo winces, running over to the girl. “Are you okay? Sorry you got splashed, I…”

She stops, blushing and looking away. She can just about see the outline of Yoshiko’s undergarments through her soaked uniform. “Um… I’m sorry I couldn’t do any better.”

“No, it’s, erm… it’s fine…” The girl looks flustered as well - rather, she looks shocked by the sudden turn of events. She looks at the smashed bottle, and swallows, imagining what might have occurred instead of just being splashed. “…You have prevented a far darker fate from coming to a head… I am in your debt.”

“…Um…” Yo hesitates, scratching the back of her head. “…Is that a thank you? I guess… you’re welcome? Just… be careful in the future.”

“Ah, Yoshiko-chan!” Before the girl can respond, however, her friends have already run over, looking over her in concern. “You're soaked! What happened- _piki!”_

Ruby jumps back in surprise when she sees Yo standing beside Yoshiko, bowing quickly. "W-Watanabe-senpai!"

"Ah, Ruby-chan!" Yo smiles, giving her a little wave. "Is this your friend?"

"Oh, erm, yes, this is my classmate, Tsushima Yoshiko-chan…" Ruby begins to introduce her before she realizes Yoshiko is still dripping with sugary wetness, and squeaks in apology. "Ah! Yoshiko-chan, sorry! Come on, let's get you cleaned up, erm… Hanamaru-chan, can you get her bags? We're going to go to the changing room…"

"Ah, let me get that." Yo picks up Yoshiko's bags, following after Ruby, Yoshiko and eventually Hanamaru as well as they head towards the changing rooms to get Yoshiko washed off. "I still feel bad for getting you sprayed."

She turns to Chika and Riko, calling, "I'll see you two later, okay?"

Chika nods, and Yo quickly turns back to follow the trio of first years. Yo is familiar with the school changing rooms - having been a member of the swim team, she's had to use the showers at school many times already. Luckily so too, because apparently Ruby and Hanamaru, being first years, don't really know their way around the place, so it falls to Yo to take them to the changing rooms and get Yoshiko bundled into one of the showering cubicles.

While Yoshiko gets herself cleaned off, Ruby, Hanamaru, and Yo sit on the benches in the changing room, chatting to pass the time.

"So… Watanabe-senpai, how do you know Ruby-chan, zura?" Hanamaru asks curiously, looking between Ruby and Yo.

"Ah… well, since Ura Girls isn't a big school, sometimes the upper and lower years have to share training facilities in the hero course. The teachers doubled down on that, and have a scheme where second years are partnered up with first years to simulate the partnerships heroes often have to take on in the field…"

Yo grins, and pats Ruby on the shoulder, who lets out a quiet _piki!_

"Ruby-chan is my partner, so we train together sometimes."

Ruby nods shyly. "W-Watanabe-senpai has taught me so many things about being a hero…"

"Oh… that's really smart, zura…" Hanamaru says, nodding in understanding. Then she pauses, a thought occurring to her. "…What about the third years, zura? Do they have partnerships too?"

"No, they don't," Ruby answers this time, shaking her head. "Onee-chan told me about this… they get practical experience by doing internships with actual hero agencies, so most of the third years alternate between being in school and interning in Numazu…"

"That's right - my old partner, Kanan-chan, she's now interning with the Inuka marine safety agency. I'm planning to intern there too, come next year if I make it past the interviews," Yo sighs, before nudging Ruby slyly with her elbow. "Not everyone's from a family that runs a hero agency of their own. Right, Ruby-chan?"

Ruby blushes, flustered by Yo's prodding. "W-Well, it's true that I'm probably going to intern in Mom's agency, but… it's still going to be hard!"

"I don't doubt that. I've heard stories about your elder sister. By the time you have to intern, she'll have taken over the family business, right?" Yo nods sagely. "I've heard how strict and demanding she is."

"That's… that's just because Onee-chan holds herself to a high standard, and expects everyone else to do so as well…" Ruby mumbles, trying to defend her sister.

Yo sighs, and pats Ruby on her head. She tenses up at first, then relaxes as Yo continues to pet her gently. It reminds Yo of a timid kitten or some such. "I know, I know. Kurosawa-senpai is a top-grade student and a successful prospective hero. I'm just poking fun, don't take it too seriously."

"Well, I think Dia-san is very nice, though…" Hanamaru says. "She always gives me extra snacks when I visit…"

"That's because Onee-chan likes you more than me…"

"I'm done!"

Yoshiko suddenly speaks up, a hand reaching out from behind the curtains of the shower cubicle. "Towel please, Zuramaru."

Hanamaru dutifully hands her the towel she's been holding, passing Yoshiko her gym clothes as well. It doesn't take long for Yoshiko to get changed, and once she's done she steps out of the cubicle, now in clean, non-sticky clothes. She's had to let down her bun, though, as she waits for her hair to air-dry.

She first smiles at Hanamaru and Ruby, then bows respectfully at Yo. "Thank you again for saving me, Watanabe-senpai. I would have… really been in trouble if the bottle hit me."

"Hey, don't sweat it," Yo grins, waving her off. "I wouldn't want to see a pretty girl like you get hurt, Tsushima-san, it's only natural I step in. Plus, I'm a hero in training - it's my job."

Yoshiko blushes at the compliment, but shakes her head. "No, I insist - my pride as a fallen angel demands I replay all debts owed. If there's anything I can do…!"

She takes a step forward, and immediately her feet glide smoothly over the wet tiles, the slippery floor sending her sprawling into the hard tiled floor.

Luckily for her, Yo steps in at just the right moment, grabbing Yoshiko's arm with one hand and deftly slipping the other behind her back, cutting short her fall and pulling her into a classic ballroom dip, their faces ending up only inches apart.

"Whoa," Yo says breathily, grinning. "Careful, there."

"I— um— er…" Yoshiko's words fail her, and her jaw just works noiselessly for a few moments before she suggests, squeakily, "How about a drink? I'll treat you? At the cafe? Maybe?"

"That—" Yo pulls Yoshiko up, giving her a moment until she finds her balance again. "—Sounds great. I have to go to hero course training later but… after school?"

"Okay!" Yoshiko squeaks. "At the gates?"

"Sure." Yo smiles. "Then we'll be even. Cool?"

"Yeah." Yoshiko nods breathlessly.

The bell sounds suddenly, interrupting the awkward conversation and jolting the two back to reality - and the realization that Ruby and Hanamaru had been watching their whole exchange.

"I, uh, I'm gonna head back to class now."

Yo shoulders her own bag, giving the first years a quick smile as she beats a hasty retreat.

When Yo is sufficiently out of earshot, a slow grin spreads across Hanamaru's face as she leans close to Yoshiko. "Yoshiko-chan's got a date, zura?"

"Y-Yohane!" Yoshiko blushes and grabs her bag, ignoring Hanamaru as she slips her socks and shoes on. "And it's not a date, I'm just paying her back for saving my life! That's all!"

Hanamaru exchanges knowing looks with Ruby, and smiles, nodding sagely. "Yes, yes, Yohane. Don't scare Watanabe-senpai off, okay?"

"Wha- what do you mean, scare off?!"

Yoshiko stands up, crossing her arms in indignation. "Yohane is perfectly approachable!"

Ruby sighs, and smiles placatingly at Yoshiko as they file out of the changing room. "Yes, of course, Yoshiko-chan…"

"Yohane!"

"…Yes, Yohane-chan…"

* * * * *

It's dark and cold. Suzuki whimpers, curling up in the corner of the pitch black room, her back against the cool concrete wall, her feet scrabbling against smooth, featureless floor. Her legs are tied together, as are her arms - she can't feel them very well anymore. She tries to move her fingers, but finds them numb and unresponsive.

For the umpteenth time, she looks up hopefully when a shadow crosses the only light source in the room - the tiny line of light filtering in from beneath the heavy metal doors of the room. She's tried opening them, but they're locked shut, and she's in no condition to open such a heavy set of doors anyway.

She hopes, maybe, just maybe, someone is finally here to save her.

The door opens, and her hopes are promptly crushed.

A slender but imposing figure, pitch black like the night itself, stands in the doorway. Her features are shadowed, but more than that, her very skin is stained as black as ink, almost as though she's comprised of shadows. The only distinct thing visible is blood-red eyes, staring down at her with an unfeeling coldness.

She steps into the room, but doesn't seem to be addressing Suzuki as she speaks: "…Yessir. I'll put her on now."

Walking up to Suzuki, she kneels down next to the girl, and places what's presumably a phone next to her ear. Suzuki shivers - the woman's skin is as cold as ice. A man's dry, rasping voice sounds in her ear.

"Hello, Tanaka Suzuki—"

Her skin crawls. He knows who she is.

"Who- Who are you?"

" _I'm not done speaking yet._ "

Her mouth snaps shut with only the mere sound of his voice. She finds herself almost incapable of breathing, frozen in fear as she is.

"Suzuki Tanaka, I've had you brought here for a reason. You have access to something that we do not. You will bring it to us."

The man's guttural voice chills Suzuki to the bone, and she nods instinctively, even knowing he cannot see her.

"I care not how you do this. Bring it here, and we leave you be. Fail, and my associate here will butcher you and everyone you hold dear."

Suzuki holds her breath as she feels the woman lean in, feeling her cold breath on her neck, and her nails dig into her flesh. Fighting to make no noise despite the pinpricks of pain, she stays silent until she feels the woman move away.

"I am not so cruel as to set a deadline, but… my patience is not infinite. If you don't deliver… well, my associate will be waiting."

"W-what am I supposed to get for you?"

A dry laughter comes from the phone.

" _Bring me Sakurauchi Riko._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It begins.
> 
> I didn't think I'd do YouHane here too, but I guess I'm just a shit for that ship.


	5. Portents

She’s back there again. Chika’s in her living room, curled up under their family kotatsu and peeling mikan. She can feel the warmth radiating from the heater, and she wiggles her toes comfortably.

“Chika, can you peel these as well?” Mito comes up from behind her and drops a small bag of more mikans on the table. “We’re a little busy up front.”

Chika nods mutely, simply opting to continue peeling mikan. She’s built up a small pile of peeled skins, and a sizeable stack of mikans on the kotatsu. It’s a personal tradition of hers to pre-peel a bunch of mikans so she doesn’t have to wait later. Plus, it’s her first time eating mikan since coming out of the hospital, so Chika wants to really be able to binge on her favourite food.

A few minutes later she has Mito’s mikans peeled as well, and settles in, getting ready to feast on the flesh of her enemies. Or rather just mikans.

She raises one slice of mikan to her mouth, smells the mouthwatering sweet aroma, and smiles.

She then takes a bite out of it, and every bone in her body shatters.

* * * * *

_“WAH!”_

Chika shoots out of bed, and smashes her forehead into Riko’s.

“Ouch!” Riko falls to the floor beside Chika’s bed with a thud, cradling her forehead and barely holding in a pained hiss. “Chika-chan! What are you…” Her complaint dies on her tongue as she looks up to see Chika.

Chika’s covered in cold sweat, and she’s curled up, hugging her knees tightly. Her breathing is ragged and uneven, and if Riko looks carefully, she can see Chika shivering.

“C-Chika-chan? Are you… okay?” Riko pulls herself up to Chika’s bedside, staring at Chika with concern.

Chika glances over at Riko, but for a moment it’s almost like she doesn’t recognize Riko. Her eyes are wide, her pupils dilated and wild with emotion. But then she focuses, and gives Riko a weak smile. “Oh… hey, Riko-chan. Uh… what’re you doing here?”

“W-Well, Yo-chan’s on duty today so she asked me to come check if you’ve woken up…” Riko explains, before she quickly shakes her head and asks again. “Are you really okay?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m- um, I’m fine.” Chika gives Riko a shaky smile. “See?”

“You’re still shaking,” Riko points out. Chika looks down her her hands, still slightly trembling. She balls her hand into a fist, trying to quell the shivering, to no avail.

“I—…” Chika starts, before she glances at Riko again and sighs. “…Sorry. I had a nightmare and, I guess I’m just a little shaken up.”

“A nightmare? What about?” Riko asks, before she catches herself and hastily adds. “I-If you don’t mind telling me, that is.”

Chika shuts her eyes for a moment and breathes out. “It’s just… the first time I activated my quirk.” She shakes her head. “I, uh… Riko-chan, could you tell Yo-chan I might not go to school today? I don’t feel too well, so I might go to the clinic…”

“The quirk clinic?” Riko asks.

“Yeah,” Chika nods her head. She sits a little straighter, and gives Riko another smile, this one a little more assured. “Thanks for coming to wake me, Riko-chan. I’ll… um, I’ll see if I can get to school later.”

“Okay,” Riko nods quickly. “I hope you feel better soon.”

“Thanks,” Chika gives Riko a small smile, before she remembers something and adds. “Um, please don’t tell Yo-chan about… like, the nightmare and stuff. I don’t want her to worry.”

“Sure,” Riko promises. She stands up, and takes a step back. “I… need to get going now. Are you sure you’re going to be okay? You look pretty pale…”

“Thanks for worrying, but I’m pretty hardy,” Chika pats herself on the chest. “I’m sure I’ll be fine soon enough. Now, shoo! You’re gonna be late!”

Riko nods and waves, leaving the room reluctantly. Chika watches her go, trying to hide the fact that her hand is still trembling. She looks down at her hand, and breathes out shakily.

“Everything is going to be fine, Chika. Everything is going to be fine.”

* * * * *

Yo raises an eyebrow when Riko arrives at the classroom without Chika. “Where’s Chika-chan?” Yo asks curiously, as Riko puts down her bag on her table. “She’s not skipping school, is she?”

“Chika-chan is sick,” Riko explains. “She’s going to the clinic later.”

“Oh,” Yo blinks. “Hm. I hope she feels better soon… Though it’s not like her to get sick so easily…”

She idly doodles a few drawings onto a blank page in her notebook as she speaks. Noticing this, Riko walks over and peers at the page over her shoulder.

“What’s that?” Riko asks. The drawings appear to be of some sort of outfit, a vaguely aquatic design with streamlined fins and turbine-looking attachments.

“Design prelims for my costume,” Yo says, tapping the page with her pen. “We get our own costumes in our second year, and we get to wear them to work experience later this year.”

“Are those turbines?” Riko asks, pointing at the fan-like objects at the costume’s wrists.

“They are! See, my suit has a few functions that require a power source, so I figured I could use my quirk to generate power for them, so I don’t need to worry about running out of battery mid-fight. The turbines also stabilize my jets so I can control them better,” Yo explains, sketching a quick internal design of the turbine. “I’m still trying to figure it out, but I should have the specs ready next week.”

The scribbled blueprint is more or less incomprehensible to Riko, but she nods regardless - clearly Yo has put a lot of thought into this. Maybe being a hero is more than just doing good and fighting villains.

Sitting down in her seat, Riko wonders if she could ever be a hero.

No, of course not. Putting her lack of the necessary skills aside, there’s the matter of her condition, and of her quirk…

 

“S-Sakurauchi-san?”

Riko looks up. A girl is standing in front of her, half-hiding behind a notebook held in front of her face. Yo glances over in curiosity.

“Um… can I help you?” Riko asks.

“I’m, er, Tanaka Suzuki…” Suzuki mumbles. She quickly bows her head. “I want to apologize for leaving morning duty to you the other day! May— May I buy you a drink or something as an apology?”

“Oh! Tanaka-san, please, it wasn’t a bother, really…” Riko says, flustered by the sudden apology. “Yo-chan and Chika-chan were with me and helped out, if there’s anyone you should apologize to…”

Suzuki looks over to Yo, and for a moment there’s almost a flash of anger in her eyes. But that quickly fades away, and she bows to Yo as well. “I, erm, thank you too, then, Watanabe-san. But I insist, you’re new to our school after all, Sakurauchi-san, I shouldn’t have left morning duty to you…” She looks up, and offers again, “What if I bought both of you something? Would that work?”

“Uh…” Riko exchanges a look with Yo, who shrugs helplessly. Suzuki’s weirdly set on getting them drinks, but Riko supposes there’s no harm in accepting her offer. “…Thank you, Tanaka-san…? I guess we’ll take you up on that offer, then.”

“Great!” Suzuki breathes out in relief, which Riko finds just a little odd; but Riko guesses she’s just been that nervous. “Can we meet at the gates after school, then?”

“…Sure,” Riko says slowly, glancing over at Yo. “Is that fine with you, Yo-chan?”

“Er, yeah. Hero Course should end earlier today, since it’s just theory,” Yo nods. “Thanks, Tanaka-san.”

“I-I’ll see you two later, then,” Suzuki bobs her head quickly, and in a hurry she excuses herself, retreating to the far corner of the room. Riko watches her go, feeling strangely uneasy.

“Something smells fishy,” Yo comments, leaning closer to Riko.

Riko blinks, and looks over to Yo. “You think so?”

Yo shrugs. “I’ve always had a sense for things. Dad tells me to trust my nose. Something felt off about that.”

“About Tanaka-san?”

“Yeah,” Yo nods. She hesitates for a moment. “I don’t know. It feels like she’s hiding something.”

“I mean, she just seems a little jittery…” Riko says, reluctant to assume poorly of Suzuki.

Yo just shrugs again, eying Suzuki with a little concern. “Hm… maybe I’m just too paranoid. Yesterday’s Hero lessons were about potential traps and stuff, so I guess I’ve got that on my mind.”

She goes back to her sketching, and Riko sits back, settling down a little.

“So, what happened with the girl yesterday, Yo-chan? The first year… Tsushima Yoshiko-san?” Riko asks after a while of checking over her homework. Yo starts, her cheeks reddening slightly.

“I, uh,” Yo stumbles for a moment before composing herself. “We went to the cafe and got drinks. Y’know. Standard stuff. Turns out she also lives in Numazu, so I walked her home.”

“Oh, wow. How chivalrous of you,” Riko says playfully. “Like a knight in shining armor.”

“I-I’m a hero in training, it’s my duty to protect the citizenry,” Yo protests, before she spots Riko’s sly grin and pouts at her. “Y’know, you look all quiet and goody goody but you’re secretly a gremlin, aren’t you?”

“I’m just joking,” Riko giggles and sighs. “I’m sure you were just being nice.”

“Well, I mean,” Yo blushes again, looking down bashfully, “ _…she is kinda cute…_ ”

Riko gasps, and lets out a hushed squeal of delight. “Really?”

“I’m- I’m just _saying—…_ ” Yo tries to defend herself.

Mercifully, the bell sounds, and as their teacher assumes her position at the front of the class, the conversation is cut off, though Riko reminds herself to poke Yo about it later. It’s amusing to see Yo, who’s normally confident and suave (kind of a ladies’ lady really), suddenly become flustered and awkward.

* * * * *

Chika sits nervously, twiddling her thumbs together as Nozomi reads over the results of her physical examination. The office feels a little colder than normal, even though Chika knows Nozomi keeps the air conditioning the same at all times.

Nozomi lets out a quiet hum, and Chika turns to look at her.

“…Well, physically you seem fine… You haven’t been overusing your quirk, have you?”

“I… don’t think so,” Chika says hesitantly. “I’ve been sticking to thirty minutes, like you told me…”

Nozomi hums again, reading over the results once more. “There’s traces of lactic acid overproduction in your muscles, indicating you’ve used your quirk recently… You haven’t accidentally ingested any mikan, have you?”

“No, of course not. I’ve been very careful with my diet,” Chika says.

“I believe you. That’s why this is so strange… and your dream… you haven’t had it in a while, right?”

Chika shakes her head. “Not since early last year. Not since I’ve gotten my quirk under control.”

Nozomi bites her lip. Bad dreams can mean many things. Most of the time it’s just the product of stress, or overstimulation before sleeping.

Nozomi knows that they can also be omens for things to come. Many dismiss her claims, but she’s seen it happen before. They live in a world where people fly and spit fire and lift objects without touching them - prophetic dreams aren’t as crazy as they seem.

“Is anything that’s… bothering you, Chikacchi?” Nozomi asks carefully. “Schoolwork? Family?”

Chika shakes her head, then pauses. A few seconds pass, then she reluctantly starts, “Well… I guess I’m getting anxious. There are only a handful of examples of second year general course students transferring into the hero course, and it’s actually impossible for a third year to do so.”

“There are other ways of becoming a pro hero…” Nozomi suggests delicately.

“I know… but it’s just… I have this awful feeling that if this goes on, I won’t ever be able to get anywhere…” Chika murmurs.

Nozomi purses her lips. She knows how important this is to Chika. How much gaining a quirk and getting the chance to be a hero means to her.

She rests a hand on Chika’s shoulder and squeezes gently. “I know. I understand how you feel. But… life works in mysterious ways. You weren’t given a quirk just to have it fade into obscurity. Your time will come, Chikacchi. I know it will. You just need to be patient, and stick with it.”

Chika sighs. She knows that Nozomi’s right. Even if she wants to rush things, there’s nothing she can do right now. Still, there’s a nagging voice in her head telling her that _something_ is amiss. “I… suppose you’re right,” Chika says, nodding slowly. “It’s just… getting really hard to be patient.”

Nozomi nods understandingly. “You’re already making good progress, Chikacchi. You’ve mastered in two years what most need all of their formative years to get used to. You just need to keep up this pace and you’ll be fine.” Nozomi turns back to her desk, scribbling down a note. “I’ll write a note for your school, and… do you need me to prescribe sleeping medication?”

Chika shakes her head. “Maybe if I get the dream again… I think I’ll be fine.”

Nozomi breathes out, and nods. “Well, alright. I need to see to other patients, but… take care, okay? Don’t force yourself to do more than you can manage.”

As Chika bows and leaves the room, Nozomi deftly brings her tarot deck out, and lifts up the top card.

The Tower.

Nozomi hums, eying the card curiously. Dramatic change, beyond the control of the individual. A great equalizing force, upending the great and mundane alike.

Nozomi can smell a storm on the horizon. The problem is, does Chika see it coming?

* * * * *

Riko and Suzuki stand at the school gates after school, waiting for Yo to arrive from her hero course classes. Students are already streaming past them, starting the walk down the hill to the bus station and into town. There’s chatter and noise around them, but the two of them are just awkwardly not speaking, standing a few feet apart and making no eye contact.

 “So, erm,” Riko speaks up after a while. Suzuki starts, looking over to Riko - for a moment panicked, then she manages to get her expression under control.

“Y-Yes?” Suzuki stammers. She seems nervous, her mannerisms twitchy and uneasy.

“Tanaka-san… If it’s alright for me to pry… why did you miss morning duty yesterday?” Riko asks.

Suzuki flinches, and Riko adds hurriedly, “If- if it’s personal, then you don’t have to tell me, I was just a little curious…”

“I, er, I was just feeling sick…” Suzuki mumbles.

“Oh…” Riko looks Suzuki over. She does look a little pale… “I see. I hope you’re feeling better?”

“Y-Yeah… I’ve mostly gotten over it…”

Suzuki looks down, avoiding eye contact with Riko. “W-Watanabe-san sure is taking long, huh?”

Riko notes Suzuki’s clumsy attempt to change the subject, but doesn’t comment on it, instead just nodding slowly in agreement. “Yeah… she should be done by now…”

Suddenly, as though on cue, Riko hears someone call her name, and she looks up to find Yo running up to them from the gymnasium. “Hey! Sorry I’m late, I got caught up with something…” She glances to one side, and Riko follows her line of sight to a certain dark blue-haired girl watching them from a distance. Yo gives Yoshiko a little wave, and Yoshiko’s cheeks flush before she ducks out of sight.

Things seem to be going well for those two.

“Are we good to go, then?” Yo asks, turning back to Riko and Suzuki.

“Yeah, we were just waiting on you,” Riko nods, and smiles at Suzuki, who starts and hastily returns the smile.

“L-Let’s go,” Suzuki says, setting off past the school gates and heading down the slope at a brisk pace. “No time to lose.”

Yo stares at her for a moment, before glancing at Riko. “…Okay, this morning I said maybe I was just being paranoid but… something’s really off about how she’s acting.”

Riko’s breathing catches a little bit, before she shakes her head firmly. “I… can’t believe that Tanaka-san would be the kind of person who harbours ill intent. Besides, what would she gain from deceiving us?”

There’s something in her tone that makes Yo think Riko’s trying to convince herself as much as she’s trying to convince Yo. Does that mean that Riko actually does know a reason why Suzuki would want to lie to them, then?

“I… suppose. And there _is_ two of us. I just… I don’t know. I don’t think Tanaka-san has some kind of malicious motive, but there’s just… she’s not really acting the way I remember her acting from last year.”

Yo bites her lip. She really doesn’t want to suspect a classmate, but at the same time, her instincts are screaming at her that something is afoot, and so does her experience from her hero training.

“I’m going to message Chika where we’re headed just in case,” She finally decides, pulling her phone out and tapping out a message as she goes to follow Suzuki. “I mean, I really doubt that it’ll come to that, but…”

Going up to Suzuki, Yo asks, “Hey, Tanaka-san? Where are we thinking for drinks? Shogetsu?”

Suzuki flinches, before saying hurriedly, “No! I mean… it’s, er, a place by the docks that I found a few days ago.”

“I don’t remember any place that sells drinks being by the docks…” Yo frowns.

“It’s, er, new. You probably just haven’t heard of it yet,” Suzuki stammers.

“Right…” Yo says slowly, tapping out the message on her phone.

_Going to get drinks with Tanaka Suzuki and Riko-chan. New place by the docks. Seems a little weird? Will keep you posted._

* * * * *

By the time they’ve gotten down to the docks, Yo’s suspicion has only grown worse. She’s pretty sure if a cafe type thing opened up near the docks she’d have heard of it from Chika, or her dad.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Yo asks, looking around. The sun has just started to dip in the horizon, casting a warm glow onto the town. The dock is just one of many piers in and around the Uchiura-Numazu area, but since it’s the most frequently used by ferries it’s usually the one that people refer to. There are a few warehouses nearby, for storing produce and equipment. It doesn’t look like the kind of place where a cafe or even a general store would be.

“Y-Yeah, it’s just up ahead…” Suzuki says. She looks around for a moment, glancing down each end of the street before breathing out and knocking on the rusty door of one of the warehouses - one that Yo swears was abandoned last she checked.

There’s a long pause where there’s no response.

“Hello? It’s- it’s Tanaka…” Suzuki says, raising her voice slightly.

Still there’s no response. Suzuki goes to push on the door, when suddenly, without warning, it creaks open on its own, rusted hinges squealing and grinding as the door swings back. It’s dark inside, the air dusty and stale, and Yo takes a reflexive step back.

“That’s not a shop,” Yo states the obvious, and grabs Riko’s wrist, pulling her back as well. “Tanaka-san, what’s going on?”

Suzuki flinches, and looks at Yo with eyes that Yo only just notices are brimming with tears. “I’m sorry…! I’m so sorry, they made me do it, I didn’t want to…!”

Alarm bells that were already ringing in Yo’s head go into overdrive, and instinctively Yo shoots a pressurized jet of water from her palm, propelling her and Riko away from the doorway just in time as a swarming mass of… _something…_ erupts out of the darkness, lashing out to grab at the two of them.

Tanaka falls back, shocked, as Yo and Riko tumble to a stop some twenty feet away from the warehouse entrance. Yo stares, mouth agape, as what looks like a tangle of tentacled limbs of some description, completely inky black in colour, retracts back into the darkness of the warehouse interior.

A flash of red suddenly appears in the doorway, two spots of bloody red that glare out at Riko and Yo. _Eyes_.

“Well done, Tanaka Suzuki. Your actions have spared your parents’ lives… and saved us a great deal of time.”

A figure, clothed entirely in black clothes, steps out of the shadow of the warehouse. A woman - with black-stained skin, tangled hair, and piercing red eyes. Her body seems to writhe slightly, twisting and rolling in a disturbing manner - like there’s something burrowing right under the surface of her skin.

“Sakurauchi Riko. You know why I’m here.”

Riko freezes as she’s addressed by the woman. Her eyes go wide, and her heart rate skyrockets. “You are needed. Come with me and I’ll even let your friends go unharmed.”

Yo glances at Riko, noticing her grip tighten several degrees. “Riko…? What is she talking about?” Yo asks under her breath, even as she puts herself between the woman and Riko. Riko shakes her head mutely. Yo can feel her palm getting sweaty. She licks her lips nervously before turning to face the woman. “What do you want Riko-chan for?”

“That is none of your concern,” The woman says coldly, taking a step forward. Yo notes how her feet almost seems to meld into her shadow cast by the setting sun. “Hand her over and I won’t kill you… much.”

“Well, that sounds _great_ but we really need to get going now,” Yo says nervously, inching back and herding Riko along as well. But then she realizes a factor that prevents them from just running away - Suzuki is still on the ground, now behind the woman with her escape routes cut off.

There’s no way Yo can just leave her there, especially not with the revelation that her family is being threatened.

Yo flexes her hand experimentally. She more or less has a full tank, and they’re right by the sea. The air is humid enough that she can fight a war of attrition pretty well. But she doesn’t know what the woman’s quirk is, and it’s never a good idea to get into a fight with an unknown foe.

“Riko,” Yo says with a low, urgent tone. “Call the police. Call them now.”

Before Riko can even fully pull her phone out, though, a tendril of inky blackness erupts from the woman’s skin, whipping towards Riko at lightning speed. Yo pulls Riko out of the way just in time to avoid the attack, but Riko’s phone is smacked out of her hand and smashed against the floor. Yo doesn’t even need to look to know that the device can’t be used anymore.

Clearly the woman is a professional, and a master of her quirk. The attack was conducted with pinpoint precision, and her reaction was blindingly fast.

Yo bites her lip. A frontal assault is not an option, then. Yo wasn’t planning to do it anyway, but now she’s clearly outmatched. Whatever the woman’s quirk is, it’s a lot more suited to combat than Yo’s jets.

“Neat trick!” She calls out, while watching for any shift in the woman’s expression. “What’s that, limb generation? Transformation type quirk?”

The woman regards Yo silently, before narrowing her eyes. Yo has just a split second to avoid the pitch-black spike that launches from the woman’s chest, ducking just in time to avoid having her skull impaled. She drops to the ground and fires off a jet at maximum pressure, hoping to catch the woman off guard.

To her surprise, though, the woman doesn’t even dodge. As the jet is about to knock her head off, her shadow rises up out of the ground, forming a wall around her that harmlessly deflects the high-pressure jet. Then another tendril lashes out immediately in retaliation, slamming into the ground as Yo throws herself to one side to dodge.

Rolling to a stop, Yo immediately fires off another barrage of jets, forcing the woman to summon up the wall of shadow again. Before she can make another attack with her tendrils, Yo is already on her feet and blasting the woman with jet after jet of pressurized water, forcing her onto the defensive.

“Tanaka-san! Run!” Yo shouts, hoping Suzuki will do as she’s told. Yo’s managed to bait the woman to wander far enough from Suzuki that she has plenty of space to make an escape.

However to Yo’s dismay, Suzuki briefly stays rooted to the spot - possibly frozen from fright, or otherwise just unable to move. It takes a moment or two for Suzuki to get moving, but that’s enough time for the woman to grab her with her tendrils and throw Suzuki into the warehouse. Yo grits her teeth, and adjusts her strategy in her mind again.

She can’t escape, not while Suzuki is still in danger. She probably doesn’t stand a chance in a full on fight. Her only win condition is to make enough noise to attract someone’s attention - unlikely at this time of day - and hopefully get help that way. Meanwhile she loses if she, Riko, or Suzuki get definitively captured.

Bad odds. Yo grimaces, desperately veering left to avoid being stabbed in the shoulder by one of the woman’s shadow spikes. The only saving grace she has is that the woman doesn’t seem to be willing to hurt Riko in any way; that means as long as Yo can still present herself as a threat, Riko will be safe.

“Riko, stay behind me. If you can’t, just duck behind something, out of her line of sight. Looks like she can’t control anything that isn’t attached to her.”

“Control?” Riko asks, dutifully taking cover behind a shipping crate.

“Her quirk - I think she can control the shape of dark surfaces. That’s why she’s wearing black. And shadows, too—!”

Yo dives out of the way as a black mass shaped like a meat cleaver slams down inches away from her leg.

“But she’s not controlling our shadows, so I’m guessing she can only do it with things that she’s in contact with!”

Yo quickly glances at the woman, trying to read her expression. Her eyes narrow briefly, and Yo guesses that she’s hit the nail on the head.

But that also means that adds another lose condition. As night falls the shadows will grow longer, giving the woman more of an advantage. As Yo desperately thinks of a way to get out of the situation, the woman forms something like a shield out of the clothes on her forearm, easily deflecting the jets Yo sends her way.

“Just give up,” the woman hisses, lashing at Yo with a flail-like shadow construct. Yo twists her body to avoid being hit, but she can feel her body tiring. She has no way of getting a solid hit in, and she can’t keep dodging forever. The spiked shadow whistles as it flies past, leaving jagged cracks where it drags over the concrete.

“Yo-chan,” Riko yelps as she watches the girl dive for cover against a furious lashing. She bites her lip, nails digging into her palms.

At this rate Yo’s going to get hurt… No, knowing _them…_ Yo’s going to die.

She keeps biting until she can taste coppery blood on her tongue, then makes her decision.

She stands up. “I’ll turn myself in,” Riko says, her voice quavering despite attempting to sound strong.

“Riko, no!” Yo shouts, running at Riko even as the woman’s eyes seem to light up in delight. Tendrils eagerly reach out to grab at Riko, and Yo’s just not fast enough, not even when she thrusts her hands out behind her and fires off a powerful jet to push herself forward.

“LOOK OUT BELOW!”

Then, out of the blue, an orange blur tackles Riko, shoving her away from the tendrils and causing her to fall into a pile of bagged garbage, undignified but unharmed. Yo makes a lightning-fast adjustment, and instead of aiming for where Riko was she extends her legs out into a kick, knocking the tendrils off-course and making them strike out harmlessly.

“Who?!” The woman screeches, her voice harsh and angry.

“Sorry, mysterious evil lady, but Riko-chan is taken!”

Yo, once she tucks into a roll and finds her footing, feels a smile stretch across her face.

There, bottle of mikan juice in hand, is Chika, her hair aglow like fire in the golden sunset. Their eyes meet, and Chika flashes Yo with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry I’m late.”

Yo grins, shaking her head. “Nah, you’re just on time.”


	6. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow my tumblr for updates, art, requests, and more! (<https://worldofoasis.tumblr.com/>)

“Riko-chan, are you okay?”

While Yo launches a quick spray of jets in the shadowy woman’s direction, Chika runs over to where Riko landed and helps her up, pulling her to her feet.

Riko nods uncertainly, swaying slightly from the force of the landing. “I’m alright…”

Gently pulling Riko so she’s safely behind her, Chika breathes out, straightening up to face the villain with the shadows. “So, what’s the plan?”

Chika’s just wearing the school sports jacket and shorts, and it’s obvious she literally just ran out of the house without preparing much. She seems to have another bottle of juice tucked away in her back pocket.

“Did you call the police?” Yo asks, watching the woman carefully as well. She seems to be wary of the new addition of Chika to the equation, and is keeping her distance, tendrils of inky blackness lashing angrily around her.

“Of course. When you didn’t message me again I reported that there was a missing person just in case.”

Yo nods in approval, and turns to the woman. “You hear that?! We called the police! Your game is up!”

The woman sniffs disdainfully, stepping forward and moving her hand down in a cutting gesture that sends a whip of inky blackness cracking against the concrete floor. “We’ll see about that.”

She lashes out with a whip-like strike from a tendril, aimed straight at Yo. Reacting quickly, Yo slides backwards with a precision jet of water, which both collides with the tendril to slow it down, and propels Yo back away from the attack. By the time the weakened strike reaches the end of its arc, Yo has already retreated to a safe distance.

“Chika-chan, get Suzuki and go. She’s in the warehouse,” Yo says quickly as she blasts the woman with jets of pressurized water. Her whips of darkness are a blur, easily parrying away the jets, intercepting them before they get anywhere close to her body.

“What, and leave you here?” Chika shakes her head emphatically. “I can’t do that.”

“Chika, who has the training here? You, or me?” Yo says sharply, leaping aside to avoid a tendril shaped like a scourge pulverizing the pavement where she stood moments ago. “I may be a rookie but I’m still a hero! Now GO!”

Chika bites her lip looking between the woman and Yo, feeling torn. Eventually, though, she nods, and with an empowered leap, vanishes into the darkness of the warehouse, leaving Yo to continue to duel the woman.

“Telling your ally to leave? That’s not very smart,” the woman chuckles, sending wave after wave of lashing shadow-tendrils in Yo’s direction. They chew up the concrete like butter, completely macerating any and all cover Yo tries to hide behind. “You’re still a student, aren’t you? Why don’t you run back home and let me take what I want? I’ll even leave your family alive,” She grins maliciously, white teeth contrasting in sharp relief to her black inky skin.

“The police are on their way, villain!” Yo calls back, jet-bursting onto a signpost, then leaping onto a rooftop when the post is eviscerated into scrap by the villain’s meat-grinder-like mass of weaponized shadow. “It’s just a matter of time until you’re caught!”

“I’ll just have to kill you before that, then,” the woman snarls, suddenly propelled upwards, using her shadow like a massive spring to launch herself towards Yo. Yo swerves in midair, angling her jets so the woman just barely misses her with reaching taloned hands. In the air, the woman has no shadow to control, only the limited material of her clothes and skin. Yo is at an advantage.

Landing and tumbling to a halt on a warehouse roof, the woman rises to her feet and glares at Yo. “And I have a name, impudent little girl. Do you want to know the person who’s about to kill you?”

Yo spins, landing gracefully back on the dockside, the fall softened by carefully controlled water jets. “Well, not really, no,” Yo says honestly. “But I’m sure you’ll tell me anyway.”

“I am Kuroi, the Executioner. You should be honoured to be killed by me,” the woman - Kuroi - says with a twisted grin. A mass of spear-like tendrils rise up behind her as she goes to jump off the roof of the warehouse, her fall broken by shadows rising up to catch her from the ground below.

“Kuroi… dark, huh? A bit on the nose, don’t you think?” Yo asks jokingly, flinging a few bursts in her direction.

Effortlessly slapping the water jets aside with a tendril, Kuroi pops the joints in her neck, sighing. “It’s been fun,” she says, advancing forward. “But I think it’s time we got serious.”

Yo breathes in shakily. “Right,” She mumbles. “Serious. Guess I missed the memo…”

She braces herself, as Kuroi rushes forward with a manic grin on her face.

* * * * *

“Suzuki-chan?”

Chika tries fruitlessly to peer through the blackness of the warehouse. Aside from the quickly fading sunlight coming in from the door, there’s virtually no light inside the storage facility.

“Suzuki-chan, can you hear me? It’s me! Chika, from school! I’m here to help you…”

She creeps through the almost pitch-blackness, straining her ears to catch anything at all. But her footsteps echo, and her thumping heart seems to drown out all noise.

Is this what being on a mission feels like? Chika has bravado in spades, but when she stared that woman down, she felt like her heart was going to be strangled. She’s terrifying, so easily dealing with Yo, who’s one of the most promising hero cadets in the school. Chika didn’t fail to notice the concrete pavement, smashed up and lacerated to bits. Yo’s quirk doesn’t have that kind of destructive power, so it’s not hard to imagine who did it.

Chika tries not to imagine Yo’s body, blended to bits by the tendrils, and fails miserably. She shivers, and calls out Suzuki’s name again.

“…sorry…”

Chika’s ears perk up, and she looks around, trying to pin down where the voice is coming from. “Suzuki-chan? Speak up! I can’t hear you!”

The warehouse seems to be fairly empty except for a few crates, as tall as Chika is, that stand scattered across the entire floorspace. She runs up to one, slowing down so she doesn’t hit her head or a knee on the damn things. “Are you hiding behind here? Suzuki-chan!”

“I’m sorry…”

Chika whips around, shutting up and trying to home in on Suzuki by sound. She’s close, Chika’s sure. She takes a few steps. “Sorry about what? Talk to me, Suzuki-chan.”

“I brought them here… I’m… I sent them to die…”

Finally getting a lock on her location, Chika sprints over to the other side of the warehouse. “Suzuki-chan!”

Suzuki is curled up behind a support pillar, her arms hugging her knees, her body rocking back and forth slowly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

“Hey, hey! It’s okay, Suzuki-chan! I’m here now. You’re safe!” Chika says, rushing up to Suzuki to hold her by the shoulders. She kneels beside her, trying to get her attention. “Look, Yo-chan is outside, distracting the dark lady right now. Here’s our chance - I’ll bust a hole through the back, and you run, okay? Get the police. Tell them where we are.”

Suzuki stares at Chika with wide eyes. “B-But I, I— Don’t you… why don’t you blame me like she said? She- she said there’s no going back, she—” Her breathing catches, and she seems to descend further into panic. “She said she’d kill everyone—my family—everyone in class—sensei, she—”

Suzuki starts to mutter incoherently, and Chika bites her lip in desperation. The longer Suzuki stays in here, the worse the situation gets. Finally, Chika makes a decision, and grabs Suzuki by the shoulders, shaking her. “Listen— Listen to me! Suzuki,” Chika makes eye contact with the girl, letting go of her shoulders so she can hold Suzuki’s head in place by the cheeks. “Maybe it is your fault. But you can still atone for what you did. You need to get out, and get help, understand? If you want people to forgive you, you need to work for it.”

Suzuki whimpers, but it seems jolting her around has some effect, because she starts to stand up unsteadily. Chika rises to her feet as well, giving Suzuki a nod, and leading her to the back wall, away from where Yo is distracting the evil black shadow woman.

Slipping the bottle from out of her pocket, Chika takes a large gulp, breathing out as she feels strength flood her limbs. “Remember: run, and get the police. Okay?”

Suzuki still seems to be in a daze, but somehow she finds it in her to nod rapidly, almost like a bobble head. Satisfied, Chika turns to face the wall, and grits her teeth.

“This is gonna hurt,” she mumbles, and punches the sheetmetal used to build up the scrappy wall of the building.

The feedback sends a jolt of pain up Chika’s arm, the force going back into her, jerking her arm backwards and almost making her elbow pop out of place. But it’s enough, as she makes a fist-shaped indent in the metal, and with another punch, the whole section of wall crumples outwards, light from the setting sun illuminating the two suddenly.

“Okay, now go! Go, Suzuki-chan!” Chika ushers the girl away, trying hard not to show how much her fists hurt. She nods, and staggers off, away from the scene of the fight. Before she’s even out of sight, Chika breathes out, and looks back at the entrance of the warehouse. “Wait for me, Yo-chan…”

Chika crouches down, then leaps up, landing unsteadily on the top of the warehouse and running across the rooftop. Her footsteps clank loudly on the metal sheets, but there’s no time to be quiet. Running up to the edge of the warehouse roof, she peers down to check on the fight. What she sees chills her to the bone.

Yo is being lifted into the air, a black tendril wrapped around her neck. Kuroi cackles as the tendril visibly squeezes, and Yo’s mouth opens in a useless effort to gasp for breath. “Not so tough now, are you?” She croons, jerking Yo about in the air.

Riko looks like she’s about to run forward when she spots Chika on the rooftop. Chika makes a shush gesture, and takes a deep breath.

She takes a few steps back, then sprints forward, launching herself high into the air with an empowered leap. The wind whips past her as she goes up, impossibly high for a regular human jump. Then she feels gravity begin to tug on her, and she stretches a leg out, coming down in a devastating drop-kick. Too late, Kuroi looks up, and realizing what’s going on, she throws a hand up, shadow coalescing around her in a barrier.

But before the wall of darkness has enough time to solidify, Chika’s sole drives right through, shattering the surface and digging right into the villainess’ jawbone. Kuroi is sent flying, spinning around mid-air by the force of the kick. The tendril holding Yo loosens, and kicking off the ground again, Chika launches herself into a tackle, shoving Yo away from Kuroi’s grasp.

The woman tumbles, screeching, into the bay, causing a huge splash as she hits the water. Chika drags Yo away from the waterside, her enhanced strength allowing her to easily manhandle Yo, who’s around the same weight as herself.

“Come on, Riko-chan, we gotta go!” Chika exclaimed, already turning and running, making a beeline for the streets. If they can just make it out of the cluster of warehouses, they might just have a chance…

**_“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?”_ **

The entire pier _explodes_ , concrete chunks sent flying as a writhing mass of pure darkness pulls itself ashore.

Chika’s face turns ghostly pale as she realizes her mistake. The woman controls shadows, that much she’s heard. Underwater, sunlight doesn’t reach as well.

Chika just empowered their enemy.

Kuroi lets out an inhuman roar as a tendril as thick as a tree trunk slams down into the ground, dragging her forward. Behind her, the sky begins to dim as the twilight hours pass by. The ball of blackness only grows with each passing second, as she drags herself towards Chika and Riko, completely chewing up the waterfront beneath her as the shadows around her spin furiously like some horrific rotary grinder.

Without hesitating, Chika downs the entirety of what’s left of her orange juice.

At first, it’s just the same familiar warmth as usual when she ingests mikan. But then, an electrifying sensation passes through her body, followed closely by a roiling wave of heat that scorches Chika down to the bone, burning through her entire being. Pain, agonizing pain, erupts through her, threatening to rip her body apart. But with the pain is power, so much power, and that’s exactly what she needs. Fighting through the pain, Chika bites her lip and grabs Riko as well, lifting both her and Yo onto her shoulders.

“Hang on!” She instructs, bracing herself against the ground. A moment later the concrete below her fractures as she jumps - no, explodes - into the air, the wind screaming past her as she goes higher, higher, and higher. Chika didn’t aim, there wasn’t time, she just needed to get away  from the shadowy monstrosity that’s getting ever more powerful in the bay.

Uchiura spins around beneath her, the houses a blur, the streets melting together. For a moment the three of them hang in the air, lingering there, almost frozen in time. They’re so high up. The air feels colder.

Then they begin to fall. Someone is screaming - is it Riko, or Chika? Maybe both. But gravity exerts its pull on the three girls, and they plummet, too quickly, too fast for Chika to even think of anything. The ground rockets up to meet them, eager to render them into minced meat, and Chika wonders if a stain on a random street is going to be her only heroic legacy.

Suddenly, Chika feels a jerk, and their fall slows abruptly. Yo’s gritting her teeth, blasting out as much water as she can muster, trying her best to slow their descent. The ground is still rising up, though, alarmingly fast.

30 meters. Yo lets out a desperate shout as she draws out all the moisture she can from within her. Chika tries to shout over the whipping wind, telling Riko to brace.

20 meters. Riko seems to have closed her eyes, too terrified to look.

10 meters. Yo’s jets intensify, blasting the pavement below, enough to scour the paint off the road.

5 meters. The wind stops howling in Chika’s ears.

“Impact!”

Chika tucks and rolls, hoping to Hell Riko’s ready. The three of them tumble across the road, battered,  bruised and soaked from the spray of Yo’s jets, but still alive.

There’s a long pause were all three of them just lie there, gasping for breath. Chika can feel her body almost falling apart, like a rag doll tearing open at the seams. She only hopes her insides aren’t spilling out like a rag doll’s.

Experimentally, she tries to move her legs. Burning, searing pain is her only response. After straining for a moment, Chika stops, flopping back onto the wet pavement.

“Is everyone alive?” Chika asks weakly. “Yo-chan? Riko-chan?”

Yo clears her throat, her voice raspy. “Y-Yeah. I’m totally dried out, though.”

Riko raises a shaky hand. “I’m… er, good.”

Chika laughs weakly, though it quickly transitions to ragged coughs and pain wracks her battered frame. She can taste copper in her mouth - is that blood?

“Chika-chan,” Yo tries to lift herself up, looking at Chika with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just…” Chika grimaces. “Gimme a…ugh… a moment.”

She tries to move, but even the slightest exertion sends jolts of agony up and down her entire body. She may have shattered every bone in her body. Again.

A guttural howl pierces the air.

Yo looks up, and weakly says, “Aw, crap.”

Somewhere out of Chika’s limited vision, there’s a massive impact that shakes the entire ground. The road is pulverized, the buildings around them shaking from the tremor. Chika’s body bounces off the ground a little.

**“I’M BACK.”**

Kuroi rises to her full height, an almost truck-sized tangle of lashing and whipping tentacles of shadow rising up around her. The sun is almost completely down. A single streetlight separates Kuroi’s shadow from the girls’.

 **“DID YOU MISS ME?”** Kuroi leers at the girls.

“If I’m going to be completely honest?” Chika mumbles. “No, not really.”

She closes her eyes as she hears Kuroi step forward. It’s over, then. She’s broken. Yo’s out of water. Riko’s quirk isn’t for fighting.

“W-Wait! I’ll come with you! I’ll come!”

Riko speaks up suddenly.

“Riko-chan…” Chika tries to object, but Riko has already scrambled onto her knees.

“Just leave them alive! Please!” Riko pleads, head low to the ground.

 **“HMM.”** Kuroi tilts her head, the writhing mass of shadow now as tall as a house. **“I THINK I’LL JUST KILL THEM AND TAKE YOU INSTEAD.”**

“No!” Riko cries out, just as Kuroi brings down a car-sized wrecking ball of shadow.

A bright light suddenly fills the air, and Kuroi screams out in pain, her shadow-limbs vaporizing in the light. A figure emerges from the light, leg outstretched in a form-perfect dive kick that sinks directly into Kuroi’s stomach. She gags, then retches, black ichor spilling out as she falls backwards.

The figure drops to the ground, and smoothly rises back to her feet. Yo blinks from where she’s kneeling, cradling Chika protectively. The figure seems to be a woman, clad in a golden form-fitting jumpsuit. She has wavy blonde hair, intricately braided, and a domino mask of the same colour as her jumpsuit, beneath which gleaming gold eyes stare out from. Her entire being seems to let off a warm glow.

“Well, seems like I’m not too late,” She says, dusting herself off. “I was wondering what was making such a hubbub.”

She turns around, giving the girls a dazzling smile. “You okay, kids?”

“I feel like shit,” Chika says honestly.

She laughs, and waves a hand at Chika. “Oh, you. You’re going to be fine.”

“What about Kuroi?” Yo rasps, craning her neck.

The villain in question was sprawled out on the ground, apparently unable to get up. “Taking a stiletto heel kick in the gut will do that to you,” the woman says airily, shrugging. “I might’ve shattered her ribcage. Oops.”

Yo stares at the fallen Kuroi, then at the newcomer in awe. “Who… are you?” She asks.

The woman looks at Yo, and smiles mischievously. “You can call me Shiny for now.”

“Shiny…” Yo mutters, looking back at Kuroi. The three of them had so much trouble against her, and this Shiny character had done the job so easily…

“Oops,” Shiny looks up, and gives the girls a helpless smile. “Looks like I gotta go. The police will take it from here, okay?”

Yo and Riko nod dumbly as they watch the woman take a step forward. Her whole body then becomes a flash, and she disappears in a streak of light.

“Who…” Riko mutters. “What just happened?”

“I don’t know,” Chika mumbles. “I’m gonna rest for a bit… wake me up when it hurts a little less…”

“You did good,” Yo said, gently brushing a bit of hair out of Chika’s face. “I’ll see you in the hospital, okay?”

Chika smiles, pretending she’s not leaking blood on the inside. Then her already foggy vision starts to swim, then fade into darkness.

* * * * *

Yo watches Chika’s eyes shut, and her laboured breathing slowing down. She sighs, and looks over to Riko, noting her concerned expression. “I’ve seen this happen before. Her life isn’t in danger, she’s just… really messed up.”

“That’s… not very reassuring,” Riko says, shuffling over to sit beside Yo.

In the distance, they can hear sirens, and the roaring of engines.

“That woman was after you,” Yo says quietly. Riko’s heart stops for a moment. Yo turns to look at Riko. Her head is down, and her eyes are glued to her lap.

Yo sighs. “I’m not gonna ask. I don’t know what your deal is, but you were willing to sacrifice yourself to save us. That’s good enough for me.” She reaches over, patting Riko on the back.

Riko winces as Yo’s hand brushes a bruise, but still manages squeeze out a tired, but grateful, smile. “Thank you… I promise, when it’s okay to say it… I’ll tell you. Both of you. You deserve to know.”

Yo smiles weakly. “Damn straight we do.”

She looks up, as police cars finally arrive on the street. The asphalt is completely shattered by Kuroi’s rough landing, and they’re forced to park down the road and walk the rest of the way. Yo clears her throat, squirting what little moisture she’s re-absorbed into her mouth.

“The woman there, she’s a villain!” She shouts to the police officers coming out of the cars. “Her quirk is shadow related! Bring lights!”

The officers stop, nod, and open up the backs of their cruisers, taking out large lamps usually reserved for night-time searches.

“Shine it on her from all around,” Yo instructs, her voice already getting hoarse. “Give her as little shadow as you can…”

She coughs, and slumps forward, the lack of moisture sapping her strength. Even though the road and their clothes are wet from her jet, her quirk factor is now completely burnt out. It’ll be a while until she can use her quirk in any capacity again.

“And someone bring her some water,” Riko says quickly, catching Yo before she falls onto Chika.

An officer swiftly passes a bottle of water over to Yo, and one of them comes around with towels, draping them around Yo and Riko to dry them off.

As the scene gets locked down, ambulances arrive, and paramedics load Chika up onto one of them. It’s only after the ambulance containing Chika has sped off towards the nearest hospital that Yo and Riko can finally relax, the tension bleeding out of their bodies.

“We’re going to have to take the two of you to the hospital as well,” a paramedic says, kneeling down next to them. “Just to make sure everything is fine. Is that alright?”

Yo just nods tiredly, and Riko thanks them politely.

Then the two of them, too, are loaded up onto an ambulance, and taken to the hospital. Looking out of the window, Yo just manages to catch Kuroi getting loaded onto a special containment van before the ambulance turns and drives out of sight.

Yo breathes out. It’s been a long day.

But at least it’s over.

* * * * *

Kira Tsubasa sighs, collapsing into the plush sofa in the living room of her penthouse apartment. She’s wearing nothing but a plain t-shirt and leggings, and she still has a towel draped around her neck from the shower she just took. A gentle wind plays through her hair, Tsubasa utilizing her quirk to air-dry each individual strand.

It’s been a tiring day. Normally she’s only responsible for metropolitan Tokyo, but a large breakout in a quirk prison forced her and several other Tokyo-based heroes to mobilize, heading out into the countryside where the facility is. Then an earthquake triggering villain showed up in Chiba, and with her flight she was the only one able to intercept him. Then a rash of genetically altered lab animals were released across the bay in Yokohama, and the sheer number of them once again required as much assistance for the local heroes as possible.

She breathes out tiredly, covering her eyes with a hand. This used to be a lot easier; is she finally getting old?

“Hey.”

She feels something cold press up against her cheek. She looks up, meeting the gaze of those vivid blue eyes she fell in love with so many years ago. Honoka smiles down at her, a cold bottle of beer held against Tsubasa’s cheek.

“Hey,” Tsubasa replies quietly, taking the bottle and popping the top off with a quick application of her quirk. “Where were you today? We could have used you at the Lockdown.”

Honoka smiles helplessly. “I heard. Sorry. I was in Hokkaido.”

“Hokkaido,” Tsubasa sighs. Sometimes she’s envious of Honoka’s overwhelming quirk. It’s never malicious, though, and rarely lasts for long. She loves her own quirk, in the end. “Did you get me anything?”

“Check the bottle,” Honoka says.

Raising an eyebrow, Tsubasa does; the label says Sapporo, one of the limited edition ones sold only on-site in the original brewery.

“Hm. You pass,” Tsubasa says, craning her neck to give Honoka a kiss on the cheek. Honoka giggles, her cheeks growing pink. She almost leans in for another kiss, but she remembers what she wanted to say to begin with and stops herself, putting on her ‘serious’ face.

“Hey, Tsubasa-chan, have you seen this?” Honoka asks, showing Tsubasa her phone.

On screen is a news article, from an unremarkable news agency in Shizuoka. The title reads, “Shadow Villain Apprehended in Numazu, 4 Students Injured.”

“Numazu.” Tsubasa notes. “That’s where the girl is, isn’t it?”

“Read on,” Honoka says, scrolling down with a thumb. Tsubasa continues to read, her expression getting more thoughtful. “Hm. ‘It is thanks for the delaying efforts of students of the local hero school, Uranohoshi Heroine Academy, that casualties were kept to a minimum. So far it seems aside from the three students, there were no other victims.’”

She looks over a photograph of Chika, Yo and Riko in hospital. “…Hm.”

“Do you figure it’s…” Honoka doesn’t finish her sentence, but Tsubasa knows who she’s talking about.

“Maybe,” Tsubasa purses her lips. “Maybe it’s time we paid her a visit.”

Honoka nods. “I’ll have Kotori-chan schedule a trip.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Villain Dossier!
> 
> Kurome Kuroi  
> Quirk: Shadow  
> Kuroi’s quirk allows her to manipulate the shape and movement of any surface that is sufficiently close to black in colour - this includes natural coloration as well as the lighting. She is extremely powerful at night, as it grants her virtually total control over her surroundings, but even in daylight she’s a force to be reckoned with, utilizing dark objects and shadows to both attack and defend. However, these objects must be directly overlapping or at least touching her person, so she can’t just control the entire world when it’s dark.
> 
> Her black body tissue is inherited from her mother, and encompasses all visible body tissue except for her iris colors. Even her blood is black!


End file.
